


A Not so Simple Patrol

by jsmulligan



Series: Claney's Journals [1]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-19 12:26:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 72,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15509841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jsmulligan/pseuds/jsmulligan
Summary: A Titan follows an unknown signal into a Hive warren and finds more than he bargained for. What follows pits Guardian against Guardian in a deadly showdown.





	1. Chapter 1

I don’t think I will ever understand the Hive. Quite frankly, I don’t think I want to. The Fallen, I can understand. I could even sympathize with them a little bit, if they weren’t always trying to shoot me in the face. Having once been blessed by the Traveler, then being left behind; yeah, I can see trying to track it back down. The Cabal are warriors; I can respect that. I hear the Vex are trying to find a timeline in which they survive. Again, fair enough, so long as that doesn’t involve taking potshots at me. The Hive though… Biting, clawing, shrieking undead things, ancient and dark, seeking to blot out the Light? I’ll pass.  
Before you ask, I can see the irony in a Guardian being weirded out by things that should be dead but aren’t. Contrary to whatever a Warlock might tell you, Titans do have brains. Irony doesn’t count for much when something is leaping out of the shadows at you, and my brain is currently thankful that my helm was tougher than that Thrall’s claws and that it’s still inside my skull. For now, at any rate.

The Thrall had thrown themselves at me almost as soon as I’d set foot in the tunnel. They had come so quickly out of the shadows that they were on me before I had time to react. I punched the first one as her claws raked my helmet, the stored void energy in my fist disintegrating her on contact as a force barrier sprang up around me. Bringing my shotgun to bear, the others crumbled to dust and ash, the buckshot tearing through them. I was on the move again before all the flakes had settled to the ground. I reloaded my weapon, the New Monarchy red glinting in the light provided by my Ghost. The Burden of Proof might not kick as hard as some other models, but it was quick and steady, and the Solar rounds were a nice bonus. 

The tracker in my HUD was not registering any movement near me, though it had somehow missed the Thrall, so I was not putting a lot of faith in that. My Ghost, Elgan, and I travelled cautiously through the tunnel of dust and moon rock. This crevice was one of many that had yet to be marked or explored, and Elgan seemed to enjoy that fact. Every now and again, the path before me would go dark as he would get distracted by a mark or stone formation and turn to investigate. A flick to his new olive green shell would bring his attention back to the matter at hand.

The lack of resistance was curious. Maybe the Hive knew we hadn’t found this opening yet, so guarding it hadn’t seemed a priority, or maybe they didn’t even know about all the cracks they’d causes in the lunar surface with their burrowing. A few hundred meters in, the surface beneath my feet changed. The natural rock gave way to manufactured structure, and I found myself entering a Hive construct. Something in the rock must have been disrupting my sensors, because I was suddenly detecting a lot of movement. Thankfully, none of it was moving toward me yet.

“I am picking up a lot of activity,” my Ghost chimed, stating the obvious.

“Thanks for pointing that out. Any idea where should start looking?”

The Ghost floated away from my shoulder, his shell expanding as he did a quick sweep of the area. Ever since Luna had been reopened for Guardian activities there had been a growing interest in locating anything related to The Great Disaster, the ill-fated attempt to drive the Hive from the moon. Guardians on strike or patrol had come across broken weapons, shattered Ghost shells, and scraps of armor, much of which found its way back to the Tower for memorialization. Rumors of phantom signals and material signatures kept popping up, hinting at greater finds waiting to be brought to the surface. We were following one of those rumors now at the request of the Vanguard.

“I am not currently detecting anything unusual at the moment, but the previously recorded sensor readings came from… this direction.”

A white waypoint marker appeared on my HUD. I turned my head from side to side, watching it slide across my vision, making sure it was locked on target.

“Got it. Let’s move.”

I stuck near the wall as best I could, hoping to avoid detection. That became less of an option when we rounded a curve and the wall suddenly gave way to open space. The Hive had hollowed out a huge section here, the bottom of which was lost to sight.

“This goes down a very long way,” Mr. Obvious chimed in again. “What were the Hive doing here?”

“Never stopped to ask them. I usually just punch them or shoot them. You’d be more than welcome to try if you’d like. I could toss you at the next knight we find, you could have a private conversation behind his shield.”

“What is it you like to say? ‘I’ll pass.’”

“Suit yourself.”

Leaning out over the edge and looking down, I could see several more levels like the one we were on that were open to the abyss. The marker seemed to indicate that previous signals had been detected lower than our current position. There would be a lot of Hive along the way. If we were to start a little lower, though…

“Think I could make that jump?”

“What?”

“There are two more levels here. The walls curves out slightly. I think I could jump down from here, save myself a whole lot of walking.”

“If you miss, I’m not flying all the way down that hole to revive you.”

“Fair enough.”

Taking a moment to gauge the distance, I put a hand on the ledge and vaulted over. Almost immediately, I realized I’d put a little too much force into the jump. Thank the Traveler for Lift. Using the Light to defy gravity and physics, I slowed my descent and pushed myself back toward the wall. I noticed an unwary Acolyte standing in the walkway. Angling myself toward her, I braced for impact and lowered my shoulder, crashing into her just as she started to turn. My momentum slammed us both into the opposite wall, and a quick punch was all it took to finish her off. Unfortunately, I hadn’t noticed the others to the left.

There were two of them, and they opened fire immediately, energy rounds from their Shredders pelting the wall and floor near me before one caught me, lowering my shields. I leaped backwards, rolling behind a column that jutted from the floor. Needing a little more range than my shotgun provided I switched to my Haakon’s Hatchet, looking from cover to let loose a stream of armor piercing rounds. The first Acolyte went down in a pile of ash, but the second had taken cover. A lot of movement on the tracker now. Apparently the firefight had caught someone’s attention.

Darting from cover, I charged the Acolyte’s position, catching her off guard. Pulling the trigger, I stitched a line of bullets from her chest up to her head, causing yet another burst of ash as she fell apart. Screams echoed down the hallway as a line of red dots tracked their way toward me on my HUD. More Thrall. Focusing on the approaching mass, I missed the other shrieking sound mixed with their cries and didn’t see the ball of starfire coming at me until the Boomer round crashed into the ground at my feet, sending me flying backward to slam into the short wall separating me from the abyss. Arc energy sparked where I’d been standing and coursed over my armor, standing in stark contrast to the darkness closing in on me.

I shook my head, trying to clear cobwebs, and scrambled to my feet. It had been a while since I’ve had my bell rung like that. I didn’t have much time to recover, however, as the Thrall were on me. I’d dropped my Hatchet when I’d taken the shot from the Knight, and didn’t have time to grab my shotgun. Fists it would have to be.

I swung as hard as I could at the Thrall as they swarmed all over me, a writhing ball of teeth and claws. Warnings sounded as my shields fell and I felt their claws trying to dig into my armor. My fists connected with one and then another, beating them back and pushing them off of me, until the last one crumbled. A loud shriek pierced the air again, but this time I was ready. Tapping into the void energy, I thrust my arms outward, placing a Ward of Dawn around me just in time to watch the arc bolt slam harmlessly against its impenetrable shell.

The Light inside the shield invigorated me, giving me a moment to gain my bearings. I picked up my Hatchet and gave it a quick once-over. Sloppy, letting that first shot rattle me that badly. I was just lucky no one was around to see it happen, I would never hear the end of it. No sooner had I thought it than a voice sounded in my coms.

“You could try not getting shot. It would be better for the both of us.” Smart-aleck Ghost.

“Yeah, well, maybe after I throw you at him one of your points of conversation can be not killing me.”

The Knight stomped into view, lowering his arms and roaring out a challenge. I decided to be friendly and wave. That seemed to irritate him and he pulled up his Boomer, firing off another shot that splattered harmlessly again, though this time my Ward flickered a bit.

“Looks like it might be time to make a proper introduction.”

Charging out of my bubble, I peppered him with a quick burst of auto rifle fire before dropping my left hand and drawing on the Void again. Predictably, the Knight raised his arms to bring up his shield, but it wasn’t quick enough to stop the grenade I flung at him. It connected to his chest and attached as the wall materialized in front of him, the grenade exploding twice in rapid succession. He staggered, and another few rounds from my Hatchet brought him down. Time to move before anyone else came to see what was causing all the noise.

Something didn’t feel right about those last few shots, so I took a moment to have Elgan transmat my Hatchet back to the ship and bring me down my Inward Lamp. Tuned for full auto, the scout rifle would get the job done with anymore rushing mobs of Thrall. We hadn’t made it far down the corridor when my Ghost suddenly materialized in front of me.

“I’m detecting something,” he stated, a tint of excitement in his voice. Opening up to initiate a more active scan, he darted back and forth searching for the elusive trace of whatever he had noticed. After several moments, he let out a whispered, “I don’t believe it,” then darted suddenly down a path leading away from the main hallway we were in. I stood in shock for a moment, completely surprised, then sprinted after him.

He was flying too fast for me to catch on foot, so I leapt, using Lift to power myself down the hallway quickly. I caromed off a wall as the hallway curved, spinning away from it and landing in a full sprint before rocketing forward again. I finally gained enough ground to lunge forward and grab the Ghost, pulling him to me as we fell to the ground. He instantly dematerialized, then reappeared above me and tried to take off again.

“Would you stop, you little idiot, you’re going to get us both killed,” I shouted, catching him again. He pulled the dematerialization trick again, but this time, hovered above me, his optic sensor opened wide.

“We have to hurry,” he said, “it’s Ghosts.”

“What do you mean?”

“The phantom signal. It’s Ghosts. Dozens of them. Their light is very faint, so very faint…”

“Then let’s go,” I replied, climbing to my feet. Elgan disappeared into my armor, and a new target point appeared on my HUD. Throwing caution to the wind, I ran down the hallway, trying to get to the Ghosts before we lost the signal again. Red pinpoints began showing up as well, showing several Hive near our destination. 

I prepared a grenade and then burst into the room, glancing around quickly. The room was circular, with two large columns on either side of the door. On the opposite side of the room, there were at least four Wizards gathered around an unfamiliar construct, seemingly performing some sort of ritual. I heaved my grenade in their direction just as one of the Wizards turned toward me. I ducked behind the left column, the explosion drawing a scream of pain and anger from the Wizards. A blast of darkness pummeled the pillar behind me and I leaned out to the left to fire off a few shots before darting to the right and taking cover behind the other column, taking a few more shots with my scout rifle.

The Wizard I’d caught with the grenade floated behind the other two, trying to use them as a shield. A few well-placed shots dropped her solar shield, and another turned her to ash. The three remaining enemies spread out then, seeking clear lanes of fire from multiple directions. Switching to my shotgun, I charged the one to my right, sliding underneath her and firing upward, the solar rounds ripping through her shields and killing her quickly. Two down, two to go. Unfortunately, that move left me exposed.

Something hit me from behind, and suddenly everything became hazy. My movements became sluggish, and it felt as if something was draining me. I pressed forward, seeking shelter, and cleared the poisonous cloud just as both Wizards unleashed more darkness, wiping my shields and staggering me.

Finally getting one of the columns between us, I let my shields recharge and decided to change tactics. I switched to my WF47 machine gun, the “Zombie Apocalypse”. Stepping back into the open, I let loose a torrent of solar skip rounds, the bullets tearing through the Wizards and bringing a quick end to the fight. No sooner were they dead than my Ghost appeared, darting quickly to the Hive machine. I set the heavy weapon down and followed.

“The signal was coming from here,” he said, zipping toward the back of the room. “I’m not detecting any activity any longer, though there is a very unusual light signature coming from inside.”

The Wizards had been gathered around what looked like a large, concave table. Hanging above it was a machine I had never seen before. It was rectangular in shape, attached to the ceiling with wire, with four nasty looking needle-like points coming from each corner. Scattered in the depression of the table were weapons, armor pieces, and a pile of Ghosts. None showed any sign of life.

“No, no, no,” Elgan whispered, moving to scan them, frantic for any sign of activity. “They were alive; I know they were alive…”

Gently, I lifted one of the shells and looked it over. On a hunch, I held it toward the dangling machine. A strange glow lit a side panel, and light flickered in the Ghosts optic for a moment before shutting down again. The starburst shape shuddered in my palm. I pulled my hand back, then repeated the gesture with the same response.

“I don’t think they were alive. I think the Hive were trying to reanimate them somehow with this device. Maybe to extract information. Or try to taint the Light in some way.”

“How could they do that? The Ghosts came from the Traveler, there is no other Light…,” my Ghost trailed off for a moment before coming to a sudden realization. “The strange Light signature. In the machine. Claney, rip this thing apart, find it!”

“With pleasure,” I replied, setting the dead Ghost down before grabbing the device and yanking it from the ceiling. I hammered it with my fists until a crack appeared, then put a hand to both sides and split it open. The machine fizzled and sparked, and something hard and white fell out of it.

My Ghost swooped down to scan it and gasped.

“It’s a piece of the Traveler!”

“How is that possible?” I asked, kneeling down to look at the object.

“Checking,” he replied. “Not too long ago, the Speaker had sent out an alert that it was suspected the Hive had a piece of the Traveler. It was reported that a Guardian had assaulted a Hive coven and discovered that they had been siphoning the Light. The Guardian stopped them, and the shard was restored, but it would seem that at least a small piece remained. They could have small pieces like this all over the moon. Maybe that is why the Traveler hasn’t recovered?”

“Maybe. We should definitely get this to the Speaker, and the Vanguard will want to look at the rest of this. Let’s get it back to the shi…”

I was interrupted by the sound of a bullet ricocheting off the ground beside me. Grabbing my rifle, I whirled toward the door to the room. At first, I could see nothing, then a Hunter de-cloaked and stepped forward, a sniper rifle resting against his shoulder. He was glad in red and white with a glowing yellow-orange sash across his chest. The letters that blazed across his faceplate and the garish cloak he wore both marked him as an adherent of the Future War Cult.

“Easy, Titan. If I just wanted to kill you, I could have. I would prefer to end this amicably. It would be a shame for all your hard work to end in easily avoided tragedy.”

“Hide,” I instructed my Ghost over a private comm channel, then addressed the Hunter. “How thoughtful of you. Call me crazy, though, I don’t tend to be on great terms with people who shoot at me unless we’re in the Crucible. Even then, I tend to shoot back.”

The Hunter laughed and took a couple steps forward, hanging the sniper rifle on his back. I shifted a little, tightening my grip on my weapon. That stopped him.

“Fair enough. Let me state things plainly. I want what you have, and I am going to take it. By force, if necessary. I had been trying to track down the source of those phantom signals as well and saw you blundering your way through the Hive warrens. Figured I would let you clear the path, and I do appreciate your effort, but I will be relieving you of your prize.”

“This belongs with the Vanguard.”

“And it will find its way there, after the War Cult has a look at it,” he stated, his tone of voice changing. His posture shifted subtly as well, preparing to make his move.

“No. Elgan, prepare for transmat.”

“So be it,” the Hunter replied.

With that, he lunged forward, pulling out knives as Arc energy coursed over his body. I barely managed to dodge the first strike, which left a smoking gash in the table holding the artifacts. I peppered him with shots from my Inward Lamp, vaulting myself up into the air with Lift, trying to keep out of his reach. He leapt after me quicker than I had anticipated, striking me across the chest. I landed hard, staggered, my shields depleted. Regaining my footing, I readied a grenade and threw it at him, sticking him as he charged in again. The resulting explosion threw us both backward.

For the second time today I slammed hard against a wall, my vision going dark again. Maybe my brain would prefer to not be in my skull after all, if this was how I was going to treat it. Staggering to my feet as quickly as I could, I saw my Ghost racing over to me.

“Are you okay?” he asked, giving me a quick scan.

“I’ll live. What are you doing? You were supposed to transmat that stuff out of here.”

“I…”

“Where’s the Hunter?” I demanded, cutting off whatever reply he was going to make. I scrambled to my feet just in time to see a mocking salute from the Bladedancer as he and all the remains disappeared.

“No! Why didn’t you get that stuff out of here?”

“Well,” the Ghost replied, sounding more than a little snippy, “as I was going to say before you interrupted me, I sent up the fragment of the Traveler and most of the Ghosts. I was having to recharge the transmat when I saw you take that hit.”

“Oh,” I responded sheepishly. “In that case… Nice work. Can you get us out of here? We need to get that stuff to the Tower, and I am going to need to repair or replace this chest-plate. Then we can see about tracking down a certain Hunter.”

“Of course it was ‘nice work’. I did it. And yes, I can. Prepare for transmat.”

“I’m ready. Let’s go home.”

Back aboard my Comitatus class ship, Invictus, I removed my helm and chest-plate. Elgan plotted a course back to the Tower while I took stock of the damage. I’d been lucky. The arc blade had cut completely through the armor, another centimeter and it would have been in my chest. Nothing but scrap now, I it aside and had a replacement piece sent to me from storage. Elgan flitted over to me, giving the discarded armor a quick scan and then breaking it down into its component materials.

“What do you think the War Cult wants with the remains?” 

“Hard to say,” he responded, turning to me, the points of his shell whirling around. “They have been commissioning Guardians to check old files and bring back various items for a while now. The different bits of alien hardware make sense. The Ghosts that we found might have had some valuable information. The different foundries have been producing items of such a higher quality than just about anything that would have been left from the Great Disaster that I can’t see what use they would have for the old armor and weapons.”

“And our friend? Figure out who he was yet?”

“I am still working on that as well. I’ve got it narrowed down to a few suspects. Unfortunately, Faction gear makes visual identifiers a little more difficult.”

“Keep on it. I’m going to close my eyes for a moment. If I nod off, wake me when we get to the Tower.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we meet some of our other main characters and the journey begins.

The Traveler filled my view as we approached. The sight of it hovering over the Last City always filled me with a sense of awe. Here was the thing that had brought Humanity its Golden Age, the thing that helped preserve a remnant of Humanity after the collapse, and the thing responsible for this strange second life I was currently living. Now it hung silent and crippled. Some said dead. I hoped not. I hoped the Traveler would awaken one day, if only to provide answers to the many questions that so many Guardians had.

We made one circuit around the Traveler before approaching the Tower. I transmatted down to the landing platform, and waited for Elgan to dock the ship. I’d gotten used to the act over all these years, but it was still a curious sensation. For me, the best way to describe it would be the sensation someone experiences when they have been traveling upward and then suddenly make a quick, downward motion; that brief sensation of zero gravity when their stomach feels as though it’s rising into their chest.  
The Tower was bustling with activity today. There was a time not too long ago when it was nearly empty. After we lost so many Guardians on the Moon, it was quiet. The last few years, however, new Guardians seemed to be sprouting up each day. I saw Hunters, Titans, and Warlocks, some moving with purpose, others milling about and socializing. Once I saw Elgan flitting back toward me from the hangar, I motioned to him and we crossed the courtyard, making our way to the Vanguard. I needed to report to them first, then report to the Speaker. After that I could take care of anything, or anyone, else that needed handling.

As I rounded the corner to the lower level, I was sure to give Eris Morn a wide pass. Traveler, that lady gave me the creeps. I can see how all that time she spent in the Hellmouth surrounded by Hive, experiencing the horrors that she dealt with, could affect a person. Still, the Hive eyes barely hidden behind the veil, the cryptic rambling she was always spouting… I'll just say I much preferred it when she hung out on the docks and leave it at that. Thankfully, she was too interested in her weird, green, luminescent rock to pay me any mind as I strode past.

Next, the Crucible staging area. On the left was Arcite 99-40, Crucible Quartermaster. The frame had a number of different weapons for sale, as well as the occasional sparrow. To the right was the familiar form of Lord Shaxx, the legendary Titan in charge of the Crucible surrounded by trophies from his years as an active Guardian. He was always an imposing figure in his orange and white armor, the one curved horn protruding from his helm that he never removed. I gave a quick salute as a sign of respect as I passed. He gave a brief nod in return.

"Tell Zavala to get out of that room and get in the Crucible, Titan," he rumbled after me. Shaxx had been after Zavala to return to the Crucible for years, wanting the Vanguard to show the younger Guardians, "…how it's done". Him making that sort of statement was almost as predictable as Hunter Vanguard Cayde-6 complaining about being stuck in the Tower. This time, however, a retort came to mind.

"Maybe he's just waiting for the right competition, sir. Perhaps you should make a more… direct request," I replied. That seemed to give him something to think about as his stance shifted and he cocked his head to one side. Visions of how much glimmer I could make if Shaxx and Zavala actually did throw down in the Crucible briefly crossed my mind, but I pushed them away for now.

Finally, the Hall of the Vanguard, where the leaders of the Guardians met to discuss strategy. The three of them were standing around their table as usual. Commander Zavala, Titan Vanguard, at one end flanked by Cayde-6 and Ikora Rey, Warlock Vanguard. They were all hunched over a collection of maps, with Cayde pointing animatedly at something. The conversation died down as I entered the room, and all three turned toward me.

"Looks like you've got company, Zavala," Cayde stated, bundling up the map he'd been gesticulating at. "We'll finish this conversation later." To me he said, "Titan," then brushed passed me on his way out the door.

Zavala looked at me expectantly. His stern, blue features might not be as inscrutable as Shaxx's helmet, but he was no less imposing of a figure. Ikora gave me an unreadable look before seeming to turn her attention to other matters. I made my way quickly down the short staircase and strode over to where Zavala stood.

"Claney Beamard reporting on recent Lunar excursion," I stated, matter-of-factly. "After finding a newly opened fissure that lead below the surface, I discovered a large cache of Disaster-era artifacts in the possession of the Hive. I eliminated the threat and recovered many of the items, though I was stopped from a full recovery by another Guardian.” 

“Another Guardian?” Zavala asked, the surprise unusually easy to hear in gravely baritone of his voice.

“A Hunter wearing Future War Cult gear."

"The War Cult? What is Lakshmi up to now? The last thing we need right now is another Faction War to divide the Tower while our enemies close in around us." Zavala turned to his Ghost, "Make a note to check into that as soon as possible. We need to nip any issue in the bud. Now," turning his attention back to me, "what did you manage to recover?"

"A large number of dead Ghosts, as well as armor and weapons. Also, what appears to be a shard of the Traveler." Elgan materialized, projecting an image of the items as I spoke. I noticed Ikora glance over at the projection, her only visible reaction a raised eyebrow at the sight of the piece of the Traveler. “It appeared the Hive were using the fragment of the Traveler to reanimate the Ghosts. I destroyed the device they were using for that purpose.”

"Well done, Claney. Get the remains and the Ghosts to the archivist as soon as you can,” Zavala stated, “Of course, The Speaker will want to see that Shard. The Vanguard will have a word with the War Cult about that other Guardian."

Sensing the dismissal, I turned and left the room. Up the stairs and across the courtyard again, then turning right, following the hallway toward the Speaker's study. As always, he was hunched over his desk, intently focused on whatever problem he was working on at the moment. I hesitated in the doorway for a moment, mesmerized by the spin of the Vitalis, before heading up the stairs. I repeated the report to him, and Elgan transmatted the Traveler fragment onto his raised platform near his work station. When it appeared, I effectively disappeared, so I excused myself and returned to the courtyard. Once out in the open, I brought my Ghost out again.

"Alright," I said, "time to find us a Hunter."

"You heard Zavala, he said the Vanguard would look into it."

"Yes, but I also know that we are going to look as well.” This statement was met with an annoyed buzz from Elgan. “Look, I'm not saying we're going to pick a fight or anything here in the Tower, I'm just saying I want you to take a look around. See if you find a trace of him. I need to know who that was. Quick check of who is in the Tower, maybe sneak a peek at the FWC meeting spot, then come right back."

"Okay," he replied with an excellent electronic approximation of a sigh, then flittered off.

With that under way, I made my way over to Banshee-44. Speculation has it that the number behind an Exo's name refers to the number of times their memory has been wiped. At 44, Banshee has the highest number I've ever seen. If that is the case, it might explain a few of his... eccentricities, to put it nicely. As I approached, the old Exo looked at me and blinked a few times before speaking.

"Hello, Guardian," he rasped. "What can I do for you?"

"My Hatchet got a little dinged up. Hoping you can fix it for me."

"Sure thing. Leave it with me and I'll take care of it." He paused for a moment and refocused on me. "I remember you this time. Reminds me, I have something for you, special delivery from Omlon. Seems they sent something as thanks for weapons testing you have done."

Banshee reached under his table, pulled out a package, and handed it over. Curious, I opened it up and pulled out a black hand cannon with a blue ammo cylinder. It had the usually blocky, plastic look of most Omlon weapons. I looked over the gun, holding it out to aim down the sights.

"Kumakatok HC4. Good gun. Solid craftsmanship,” Banshee said, somewhat admiringly. “Capable of using Firefly rounds.”  
I slipped the hand cannon behind my back. I'm normally not a big fan of that class of weapon, but it couldn't hurt to give it a shot. Elgan could always break it down for parts later if I didn't like it. I turned away from Banshee's table just as a blue and white Exo Warlock decked out in New Monarchy gear approached. I stepped out of the way to provide access to Banshee, and the Warlock changed course, revealing me as his intended destination.

"Are you Claney?" he asked as he approached, his red optics focusing on me. I nodded. "Excellent. My name is Scott-20. Executor Hideo said I might find you out here."

I have done a number of jobs for New Monarchy over the years, but I wouldn't call myself a "true believer" in the cause. Among the three Faction, the notion of strengthening and solidifying the leadership of the City and Tower appealed to me more than running away or… whatever it was the War Cult got up to. For my troubles, the New Monarchy had given me some quality gear, so it was a relationship that worked out for everyone. Most of the time.

"Did he now?"

"Yes," he began, missing or ignoring the tone, "While looking through some unclassified mission logs, I believe I discovered a piece of information related to the Vex that had been previously overlooked. I want to travel to Venus to delve into some of the Ishtar Collective's records that have been left behind. I have another Warlock traveling with me, but thought it might be useful to have someone else to help keep the Vex off our backs. As I believe the information could prove useful to New Monarchy, I approached Executor Hideo. He recommended you."

Right then, the notion of babysitting a couple Warlocks as they went diving through computer records was about as appealing to me as throwing myself off the Tower. I opened my mouth, prepared to reject him outright, but he interrupted me.

"The Executor said that he would reward you with the latest model Kallipolis Plate for your troubles."

That stopped me. I'd had my eye on that piece of gear for a while. Sure, it looked mostly like the old model, but the chroma infusion just made it so much more appealing. I had already managed to procure the rest of the set, and would be able to complete it now. Curse me and my infatuation with glowing armor.

"Deal," I stated. "I just need to finish one thing and then I'll be ready to go. I'll meet you here shortly."

I headed toward the docking area and met my Ghost on his way back. He fused into my armor and told me what I had already assumed, the Hunter was nowhere to be seen. Either he had come and gone, or he had not come back yet.

"I doubt I need to remind you that Hunters tend to stay away from the Tower for much longer periods of time than Titans or Warlocks," Elgan said. "I doubt waiting around would be productive. I will monitor what I can without getting us into trouble for any sign or mention of him."

"We're not waiting around," I informed him. "We're going to accompany a couple Warlocks to Venus to do an archive dig. Maybe it will give our friend some time to surface. While we’re there, if you're really good, maybe I'll let you out so that you can do a little scanning yourself."

We made our way back out to the courtyard, and I saw Scott waiting by the tree. He didn’t notice me right away, so that gave me a moment to take a better look at him. Most of his shell was a navy blue, but there were two large, bright white attachments to his head that came from the top of his head to about where the eyebrows would be on a human. From there, two horn-like projections stuck out, giving him a slightly devilish look. That was accented by the red optics and dash of red paint over the left eye. All in all, the appearance didn’t mesh with the personality that he had exhibited so far. I drew closer, and he finally noticed my approach.

"Ah, Claney. Back much quicker than I expected. Excellent,” he said cheerily, once again giving lie to his look. “I have established contact with the other member of our expedition. She is currently below in the City and requests we meet her there.”  
“Lead on,” I replied, motioning in the direction of the elevators.

…

I don’t venture into the City very often. Maybe I should. Maybe seeing the people raising children, opening shops and market stalls, and just generally going about their lives would strengthen my resolve, help me push that much harder against the Darkness. At the very least, the view of the Traveler from below is enough to make the trip worth it. From here, the horrific scarring on its underside dominates the view, as opposed to being most hidden when looking from the Tower. Once again I am filled with questions about its arrival and last moments that I hope to one day get an answer to.

Many Guardians find it relaxing to walk the streets and visit the restaurants or pubs that have sprung up over the years. I, on the other hand, find it all a little disconcerting and uncomfortable. I do not enjoy being surrounded by crowds of people and it all just reminds of how far removed from “normal” the life of a Guardian is; how different we are from the rest of humanity. It is impossible to not be reminded of that as you walk the streets, particularly if you come in full armor. People stare. Some can’t resist the urge to touch Guardians as they walk past, as if to see if they are really real. For some of them, it almost seems to border on some sort of religious experience.

I could see Scott-20’s head moving back and forth, taking in all the sights. Clearly, he had not been down frequently either. We made our way into the Core East district of the city, and he stopped to confer with his Ghost, attempting to locate the establishment our third fireteam member was in. I heard a scurrying of feet behind us, and visions of Thrall shrieking and tearing through the streets passed through my mind for a moment before I realized it was simple a group of children attempting to follow us without being seen. I considered saying something to them for a moment, then decided to let them think they had succeeded in their attempts at stealth.

After a brief conference with his Ghost, Scott continued onward, and I followed. The children continued behind us as well, emboldened by their success thus far. I smiled a little in spite of myself as I heard a couple of them start to giggle. Maybe the City isn’t all bad. I glanced over my shoulder and saw them try to duck behind whatever cover they could find, laughing and squealing. After a few steps, I heard them scrambling to catch up. I gave them a moment to get close again and then turned suddenly, dropping to one knee to get down to their eye level. They screamed and laughed as they ran away again, except for one child. A small girl with dark brown hair and eyes who stood in place, staring. I held out my right hand, palm toward her. A small smile crept across her lips as she stepped forward and slapped my hand before running off after her friends.

I watched the children go, then stepped quickly to catch up with Scott. After another left turn, we found what we’d been looking for. A brightly painted curio shop of some sort called Trina’s Trinkets. The lettering of the sign was ornate and flowing, and the windows held displays of geodes, pottery, and rusted relics. Pushing open the wooden door, Scott stepped in and I followed.  
The interior of the store was dimly lit, and it took my eyes a moment to adjust to the change in illumination. Once I could see clearly, I took stock of place. It was cluttered with various knick-knacks and household goods. Some looked newly made, while others clearly dated back many years. Mixed in among these items were fragments of other things: shell casings, armor fragments, and what appeared to be pieces of a Fallen house banner.

“Hello, friends,” came the voice of a short, middle aged woman. “My, my, my, so many Guardians today. How can I help you, gentlemen?”

“We are simply looking for our compatriot,” Scott replied.

A flash of light drew our attention and we found who we were looking for in a far corner of the room. The other Warlock was a woman, clad in full armor and helm. She was dressed in a fashion popular among Guardians who frequent the Reef, shaded blue and silver, a purple Fallen rune glowing on her chest that looked very bright in the low light of the shop. She was holding something I couldn’t quite make out. The flash had been her Ghost scanning the item. 

“And there she is,” Scott continue. “Pardon us.”

The Exo Warlock made his way to the far side of the room. I stayed near the door and heard a small whimper in my internal coms. I chuckled and held out my hand.

“Go ahead, take a look around. Make it quick.”

Elgan materialized and quickly began to dart around the shop, careful not to collide with anything. He did a quick scan of anything that caught his interest while the two Warlocks conversed. The shopkeeper seemed to find his curiosity amusing, smiling as she watched him go to and fro.

I saw the Warlocks turn in our direction, and snapped my fingers. My Ghost let out a petulant sound and came back to me. The new Warlock approached the shopkeeper, apparently purchasing whatever item she’d been examining. Stepping outside, we waited for the other two to emerge. When they did, Scott made introductions.

“Zillah Arvid, this is Claney Beamard, the Titan that will be accompanying us to Venus. Claney, Zillah.”

The other Warlock, Zillah, seemed to give me a once-over and let out a sound that could be interpreted as extreme disinterest. I could already tell this was going to be a great partnership. 

“Nice to meet you too,” I muttered.

Scott's Ghost sent Elgan the rendezvous coordinates for Venus orbit. The Ghosts in turn disappeared, heading to the hangar to retrieve our ships. Once they were in range, we were each transmatted aboard our respective vessels and on our way.


	3. Chapter 3

We touched down on Venus and summoned our sparrows. Our destination was in the direction of the Endless Steps, and traveling on foot would take too long. A Guardian had been through there about a year ago and located an Ishtar Collective facility that had given us much of the information we knew about the Vex. That Guardian had also supposedly gone to the Steps and killed a Gate Lord. Rumor had it this was the same Guardian that found that piece of the Traveler and lead the fireteams that killed Crota, raided the Vault of Glass, and killed Oryx. Personally, I found it a little hard to believe that one Guardian was responsible for all of that. If it was true, what would the Vanguard even need the rest of us for?

I mounted my sparrow, the Days of Wind, and fell in behind the two Warlocks. As we barreled through the canyons, I couldn't help but observe the second Warlock, Zillah. She rode an EV-37 Voidstreak, marking her as an SRL veteran. She rode like it too. Even though we were following Scott, whose sparrow was clearly outclassed power-wise, she took corners aggressively, putting herself into position to be able to pass him at any moment. At one point she rode up a small out-cropping of rock and launched into the air. I could have sworn I heard a little laugh escape her. Might not be quite as surly as her first impression would suggest.

Scott-20, on the other hand, was speeding along in a very matter-of-fact manner, nothing fancy in his maneuvers. If anything, I would say he seemed hesitant in his driving, as if he wasn't very familiar with the machine. To me, that suggested that he could be lacking field experience. Many Warlocks spent more time studying than fighting, perhaps he fit that mold. If that were the case, I would probably need to back him up more than her in any firefights we found ourselves in.

"Taken corruption detected!" Elgan shouted into my ear suddenly as we burst out of the canyon into an open space near the Ember Caves. 

Despite recently suffering massive setbacks in the region, Fallen patrolled these areas. On a normal day, they were usually easy to avoid if you moved quickly enough. Unfortunately, we didn't find ourselves in a "normal" situation. The place was crawling with the dark, twisted forms of the Taken, members of various races whose will had been dominated by Oryx, who were locked in combat with the Fallen. Ever since Oryx the Taken King fell, Taken activity has lessened in much of the solar system though they still seemed to hit Venus frequently and in large numbers. I had no idea why, and the why of it wouldn't have mattered much at the moment anyway. For now, we just needed a way around them.

We tried to skirt past the conflict, keeping close to the cliff, but a Taken Captain caught sight of us as. Warping in front of us, he flung a ball of Darkness that Scott had no chance to avoid. Unable to see, he quickly lost control of his sparrow. He swung hard to the right, sending the small craft off balance and it flipped, throwing him off. Zillah and I split left and right to avoid the ball, and I leapt from my sparrow, shotgun at the ready. The Solar rounds shredded his shields and he roared. I heard the familiar "vrwoop" sound of a fusion rifle discharge, and the Captain disintegrated in front of me. I nodded to Zillah, then we both ran to check on Scott. The Warlock had come to a crashing stop as he'd slammed into a large stone. He was picking himself up slowly as we approached. Zillah and I each took hold of one of his arms and helped him to his feet.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"I believe so. Nothing feels fractured, just bruised in body and pride. We should probably be on our way, let the Fallen and Taken continue to hammer each other."

Just then, the ground rumbled as a large Taken presence began manifesting itself. The Fallen shrieked out challenges and began concentrating fire as the cloaked form of a Zealot Vex appeared in the center of the depression. More ruptures opened all around it, Taken troops pouring through.

"No," Zillah stated firmly, "we should take that thing down first."

"Are you mad?" Scott asked, a hint of panic in his robotic voice seeming to confirm my earlier conclusions about him being green.

"Perhaps," she replied, switching her fusion rifle for a black and purple scout rifle with yellow markings. “Or maybe I just know my duty.” 

Taking cover behind an outcropping of rock, Zillah opened fire on the hazy target. The Zealot returned fire, letting loose a few shots before turning his attention back to the Fallen due to their larger numbers. The Taken's escorts, however, were not so easily diverted. A Taken Centurion and several Vandals began advancing on our position. The Centurion braced himself and fired of a few Axion darts in our direction. I grabbed the Kumakatok from behind my back and aimed, shooting them down from a safe distance.

I followed that up by emptying the clip toward the Vandals. I caught the first with several rounds, the last hitting him in the head and causing him to go… wherever the Taken go corpses go when they vanish into the ruptures. The second put up his shield, blocking my shots. He then returned fire with his wire rifle through the shield, forcing me to take cover again. I hate when they do that; it's just not fair.

"Uh, Claney," my Ghost chimed in, "you might want to look up."

What now? I took my eyes off the Vandal for a moment to see what Elgan was talking about. A Fallen ship was approaching rapidly, obviously called in by their friends in the firefight. It opened fire on the Taken, vaporizing many of them. Dregs and Vandals leapt from its sides, hitting the ground and instantly joining the fight. The Zealot turned its attention to the ship, targeting its forward cannons, which exploded spectacularly. Then the bottom of the ship opened up and revealed the reason for the ship's arrival.

The Walker dropped and quickly oriented itself, its massive cannon swinging to target the Zealot. With a loud boom the cannon belched fire, launching a shell that rocked the Taken so hard that its cloak fell for a moment. Its cargo offloaded, the ship turned and fled, trailing smoke where it had taken fire. Taken Goblins moved into position, putting a force-field around their larger leader. Missiles fired from the pods along the main gun detonated around the Zealot's feet, taking out several of them. More Goblins moved in to take their place. The Zealots loud, electronic screams reverberated through the area, competing in volume with the sounds of the Walker's main gun charging for another shot.

"Zillah, pick off those Goblins," I said. "Don't let them shield that Zealot. If we’re going to do this, we need it and the Walker to wear each other down as much as possible. Scott and I can handle the Taken closing in on us. Just… try not to actually hit the Zealot. We'll live longer if it's looking the other way."

"I am quite aware of that last fact," she replied, putting several precision shots right into another Goblin.

Scott aimed his auto rifle and opened fire, peppering the Centurion with shots. I called on my reserves of light and summoned a Ward of Dawn directly behind them that they could back into for protection or Blessings of Light. I then circled right, taking cover behind a different collection of rocks, giving our enemies a different angle to consider. The Centurion launched another Axion dart in my direction before turning his attention back to Scott and Zillah.

I threw a grenade at the Taken before trying to shoot down the dart. I missed with a couple shots before managing to shoot it down. I ducked back behind cover, reloaded, and then leaned out to shoot back. At that point, several things happened at once:  
First, Scott and I managed to finish off the Centurion and he disappeared.

Second, the Walker fired its main cannon at the Zealot again.

Third, the Zealot warped into a different position, meaning the Walker missed it and hit whatever happened to be behind the Zealot. Which was me.

Guardians die. This is a hazardous life, after all. Not to mention the fact that we have to be dead to be a Guardian in the first place. To paraphrase an ancient film, there's dead and then there's mostly dead. As long as our Ghosts are still functioning, when a Guardian dies we are only mostly dead. Doesn't make it any less unpleasant when it happens. The next part of this, I clearly cannot remember directly, as I was dead. Elgan filled in some of the details for me.

The blast threw me like a rag doll. As soon as my corpse stopped rolling, Elgan set about trying to revive me. The Zealot hammered the Walker, causing it to fall and enter that cooldown mode they go into or whatever it is when they stop moving and the "head" pops open. The Taken seized the opportunity to inflict massive damage on the Fallen machine.

Scott chose that moment to ignited his super. Turns out he's a Stormcaller. Lightning leapt from his fingers as he left cover, Arc light burning away the Taken troops and chaining into the Zealot. There might be hope for him yet. Zillah leapt into the air and launched a Nova Bomb into the fray, three balls of Void energy exploding simultaneously, wiping out Fallen and Taken alike. Most of the minor players were off the board now, leaving the big guns.

By the time I staggered to my feet, the Walker had done the same. I took a moment to regroup and to shift focus. I am a Defender by nature. A deep desire to protect people is probably what decided my class for me, in spite of some other tendencies of my personality. I was capable of more, however. Letting go of the Void, I mentally reached out to the Arc aspect of light, felt is surge through me. Moving into the open, I began making my way toward the Walker.

Little bits of Light were scattered over the battlefield. I let those fuel me as I picked up speed, sprinting in the direction of the Walker. By the time I reached the short rise it stood on, it had trained its cannon on the Zealot and fired again. I could not see what effect it had, but I heard the Zealot scream again. Using lift to launch myself into the air, I summoned all the energy I could, slamming down into the Walker and unleashing a Fist of Havoc. Arc energy radiated in every direction from where my fist made contact, and the Walker fell.

Rolling off of it, I had Elgan give me my heavy machine gun, and unleashed a barrage of heavy rounds into its exposed machinery. The Walker attempted to struggle to its feet again, sparks leaping from broken panels. Under the barrage of fire, it collapsed a final time and exploded. As soon as it fell, I switched my attention to the Taken, and saw Scott and Zillah giving it all they had as well. The concentrated fire power between the three of us were able to finish it off, and it crumbled.

"Well, that was fun. Let's do it again." I remarked as we regrouped in the place where it fell. Neither Warlock responded. They didn't it very amusing, apparently. "No?"

Zillah gave me another one of those dismissive/disgusted sounds, and set about searching the ground. Whatever she was searching for, she apparently found it as she picked something off the ground. She stored whatever it was and turned away, summoning her sparrow.

"I would prefer a… less eventful remainder to our time here," Scott commented, summoning his vehicle and taking the lead once again. I shrugged and followed.

…

We made it the rest of the way to the Ishtar compound without incident. Oddly enough, we never even saw any opposition. There were a few phantom motion signatures, but nothing that ever solidified. We approached the building with caution, but it was clear as well. The facility was much like every other human structure still standing on Venus: worn, damaged, and covered in greenery. There were signs of recent activity and battle. Most likely that rumored Super Guardian.

The two Warlocks set upon the rusted computer consoles immediately. Their Ghosts materialized, scanning and booting up the old consoles. Long-dormant machinery whirred to life around us and lights began flickering. I took up position just outside a doorway, sitting in what appeared to be an empty window frame. After a few moments, Elgan decided to make his presence known.

"Remember your promise, Claney," my Ghost chirped.

"Yes, yes, you were a good boy and can go scan the computer too," I replied with a grin. I watched him flit away, his shell spinning happily.

I alternated between scanning the surroundings and watching them work. It didn’t take long for boredom to set in. I paced in front of the building a couple turns, then let them know I was going to take a look around.

"Don't die again, I'm too busy to do anything about it this time," was the only response I got from anyone. Smart-aleck Ghost.  
Earth is lovely. I've seen quite a bit of it since my rebirth. Sadly, much of that was spent fending for my life, but that's anywhere these days. For my money, however, Venus is the most beautiful planet in the solar system. Fitting, given the fact that it was name for a goddess of love and beauty. Of course, much of its beauty is due to the Traveler's terraforming before making contact with humanity. Something else I need to thank it for if it ever awakens.

The facility was in a small depression surrounded by short cliffs. Getting a view from one would be nice, as well as tactically advantageous, so I Lifted myself to the nearest ledge. The landscape of Venus filled my view, and I took a moment to let it soak in. The mix of the swirling cloud cover, rocky outcroppings, and dense vegetation in some areas was awe inspiring. If my Light hadn't called me to be a Titan, I think I could have happily been a Hunter and just stayed out in that wild beauty forever.

Another sensor ghost brought me out of my momentary reverie. Those little flickers of motion had been coming too frequently to be nothing. Dropping to a crouch, I moved as stealthily as I could in the direction of the last blip. Granted, stealthy is a relative term for a Titan, but I think I do alright when I have to.

I tried to avoid disturbing the plant growth as much as possible, stepping lightly on exposed rock. Slipping the Kumakatok out from behind my back, I held it at the ready. Slight traces of motion pinged again, this time they seemed to center on one location. I had circled well to the left relative to the facility and was drawing near to the sensor ghost when I stopped. Glancing back, I noticed this position gave a nearly clear view of the two Warlocks. If someone was looking to take a shot at us, this would have been an excellent location. I hesitated for a moment, debating whether I should continue the search or just get back and let them know we could be in trouble, when I heard a small screeching sound.

Pushing aside the leaves of a fern-like plant, I discovered a young batadactyl eating some kind of snake-like creature. Sometimes mistaken for living Ahamkara, these dragon-like reptiles were prevalent in the area. Must be a nest somewhere near the facility. The small creature saw me, hissed, and then skittered into the undergrowth. Thinking I had found the source of the sensor ghosts, I turned to head back to the others when the barrel of gun pressed into the back of my neck.


	4. Chapter 4

I tensed, preparing to move. With any luck, I could spin around fast enough to get an arm up, knock the weapon aside, and get out of the line of fire. Of course, the way things have been going, luck wasn’t really on my side. Before I could try to make my move though, I heard a familiar voice.

“You’re getting sloppy, Old Man.”

I relaxed and turned to find a piece of metal piping pointed at my face, held by a female Hunter. I couldn’t see her face because of her helmet, but I knew if I could she would be wearing a large grin right now. 

“If I were a Vandal, you do realize just how dead you’d be, right?” she asked, the previously suspected grin evident in her voice as she mimed firing the pipe as if it were a gun before tossing it aside.

“Hello, Celeste,” I responded. “Two questions: what are you doing here, and how did you find me?”

“First,” she said, dramatically holding up a finger at each point, “I’m on a scouting mission. Doing Hunter stuff. You know how it is. Or, would, if you weren’t a stuffy, no fun Titan. Second, I hid a transponder on your ship. As soon as you entered atmosphere, it pinged my Ghost and he let me know you were here.”

“You did what?” I asked, incredulously. “When? How did you manage something like that? Do you realize that if anyone else hacked that signal, it could be broadcasting my location to anyone?”

“I did it the last time we were at the Tower. It was easy to get to it in the hanger. Show Holliday a ship part she hasn’t seen before and you can slip past her without even having to go invisible. But, I hadn’t thought about that last part,” she replied sheepishly. “I’ll have Whisper shut it down.” There was a brief pause, and then, “Done.”

“Good. Now as for your comment about me getting sloppy, well… you are the second Hunter in as many days to sneak up behind me, so you might have a point.”

“The second? What could you possibly be up to that anyone else would ever find interesting?”

“Good question. Right now,” I said, turning my attention back to the ruined facility, “I’m keeping an eye on those two Warlocks. They’re looking for information. The one in red seems pretty new at this, so I would be inclined to chalk it up to too little experience and too much enthusiasm, but Executor Hideo offered me a nice prize for coming along and the other Warlock doesn’t seem the type to be on a wild Ahamkara hunt, so there must be an interesting lead somewhere. The other time was on the Moon.” I quickly relayed the story of my run-in with the other Hunter, which drew a low whistle out of her.

“Attacking another Guardian outside of the Crucible? That’s… that’s… big.”

“As far as I know, it’s only happened one other time since I've been revived.”

“Are we talking the first two Guardians ever or something,” she retorted, “because I can’t imagine more than that actually being older than you.”

For the record, I’m not THAT old. It’s all a matter of perspective. Celeste had been one of a handful of cases I was aware of where a Ghost had revived someone too young to be a Guardian. I’d been there when it happened. I was on patrol and saw a lone Ghost flitting about and decided to keep an eye on it. It was a good thing that I did. A Fallen scouting party arrived as the Ghost was finishing the resurrection process. Long story short, I kept her alive and now she looked at me as some sort of father figure. Maybe an uncle. I would like to think fathers would get a little more respect. She’d spent the first few years of her new life studying and training at the Tower before being let out into the field only recently.

“Rotten young whippersnapper,” I replied, giving my best geriatric vocal impression, “when I was your age when fought the Fallen off with rocks and tree branches.” Back to my normal voice, “I should probably get back to those two. Want to stick around, or do you have ‘Hunter stuff’ to go do?”

“I’ll stick around for a bit,” she said. We both hopped off the small ledge and made our way back to the compound.

I couldn’t shake the comment she made about me getting sloppy. Over the last few days I’d been flung around by enemy fire and my own grenade, snuck up on twice, and killed by a stray cannon blast. Had I grown careless? It certainly seemed that way. There did seem to be a growing confidence among Guardians in general, especially since the fall of Oryx, and I wasn’t immune. Had it grown to overconfidence? That could be dangerous, especially if, or when, another large scale threat arrived.

We returned to the Warlocks just in time for Zillah to slam a fist into a console in frustration. The loud bang startled Scott-20, who nearly fell out of his chair. The Ghosts continued their scans, unfazed.

“There’s nothing here!”

“Well, I am not so sure…” Scott started to inject before Zillah cut him off.

“I am. I’ve run every check I can think of. That Guardian who found this place said that Vex attacked as soon as their Ghost tapped into the network. The thrice-cursed machines must have come back and cleared everything out. There isn’t even a mention of the Vex in the system anywhere.” She stood and moved away from the computers, seething.

"Well, yes, but I…” Scott started again, then stopped when he saw Celeste and I looking in. “Oh, hello.”

“Howdy,” Celeste replied in a mock-serious tone, giving him a brief wave.

“Scott-20, Zillah, this is Celeste; Celeste, Scott and Zillah. I take it the search isn’t going well?” I asked.

“Not exactly,” he stated. “Though, as I was trying to explain to Zillah, I might have discovered a different lead. The data may be gone from this location, but I have been scouring the network and believe I may have uncovered the coordinates of another Ishtar Collective facility, one that has not, as of yet, been reported by any other Guardian. It is possible that this location could still be protected from the Vex as well.”

“Celeste, do you have a map?” I asked.

“Of course.” 

She stepped forward, removing a small projector from her belt and setting it on the desk. A holographic representation of the Ishtar Sink flickered to life. Known patrol areas where Guardians had made a foothold were bright blue, smaller sections of a darker shade flanked it in each direction, showing areas scouted by Celeste and other Hunters that had yet to see a stronger Guardian presence. Scott consulted his terminal one more time then circled the map, pointing to a spot north of our position, just outside of any of the darker blue areas.

“Here,” he stated with confidence. “We will find the facility at these coordinates.”

“There’s a heavy Vex presence in that area,” Celeste said. “It will be a challenge to get there, and there is no way to know if they have already found the facility or not.”

“Well, I say we head north and check it out. At least see what sort of opposition we’ll be facing and make a plan from there,” I said.

“I agree,” Zillah chimed in.

Nods from Scott and Celeste signaled their agreement. Each of our Ghosts downloaded the map, and we made preparations to head into the unknown. I had Elgan transmat some ammo synths, ration bars, and water from the Invictus. I also had him bring down my Inward Lamp, keeping the Kumakatok for backup. I had been pleasantly surprised by the hand cannon so far, but wanted something a little more familiar in this situation. I saw the other three making similar adjustments.

I removed my helmet to eat and drink, the unfiltered sensations of Venus hitting my senses. Luna had been populated, but Venus, as well as Mars, had been terraformed by the Traveler, adapted to make human life possible beneath the clouds. The air was breathable, but there was a unique smell to it that was so foreign most people did not like to breathe it any longer than necessary. It was also very humid, leaving exposed skin feeling sticky.

Scott didn’t bother stopping to eat or drink; being an Exo it was only a luxury for him. Instead, he removed his helmet and just sat, observing the rest of us. After a few moments, he stepped outside, the sun glinting off his blue and white metallic shell as he passed through the doorway. 

Celeste’s long, red hair was pulled in two pigtails that spilled out onto either shoulder as she removed her helmet. It was a little unexpected to see she’d put that much effort in, usually it just hung in an unruly mass. She narrowed her eyes and puckered her lips as she looked over a ration bar, seemingly displeased with the flavor selection.

Zillah removed her Keeper’s Mind helm, giving me my first look at her. Blue, semi-luminescent skin revealed her to be an Awoken. She had green hair that was pulled up into some sort of messy bun, glowing yellow eyes, and faint orange markings tattooed on her face. Many people consider the Awoken to be unusually attractive, and she would not have been an exception to the rule. I made great effort not to stare. The fact that she was Awoken did make me curious about all of the Reef made gear she had. Despite improved relations in recent years, Reef-born Awoken had little love for Guardians, and even less for Awoken Guardians.

The respite did not last long. Gearing back up, we set out to head north. Celeste took point and I brought up the rear with the Warlocks between us. We initially set off on our sparrows, but the terrain did not remain open enough for us to remain on them for a kilometer. On foot, we settled into a steady pace, prepared for a long trek through rough ground and vegetation.

It wasn’t long before we ran into our first Vex patrol. I counted five Goblins, with two Hobgoblins providing overwatch. Nothing that the four of us couldn’t handle. However, taking out this first group could alert Vex across the network to a hostile presence in the area, so we opted to try to slip past. Backing away slowly so as not to attract attention, we gathered around Celeste who activated a smoke bomb designed to scramble Vex sensors. We went wide around them and managed to avoid detection. We bypassed several other patrols in the same manner before our luck ran out.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The Vex patrols grew more numerous as we pushed in and the foliage was growing thin, making it harder to avoid them. Slowly creeping past the malevolent machines was beginning to wear on everyone’s nerves. Well, three of us, anyway. Celeste almost seemed to be enjoying the cat-and-mouse nature of it. Eventually, the plant coverage disappeared altogether, giving way to a wide open expanse. In the middle of this was the apparent source of the Vex patrols. 

A large scale excavation dominated our view, an ugly scar across the landscape. From our vantage point, we could not see how far down it went, but we could see the Vex construct rising out of it, angular forms jutting skyward from the pit. Similar to reports from the Guardians who entered the Vault of Glass, and those who took down the self-proclaimed “Kell of Kells”, every so often a piece of machinery hovering near the construct would phase in and out of existence. At each of the cardinal points around the massive excavation, a Cyclops was in place, with other Vex units patrolling near each.

“Any suggestions as to how we are going to get around all of that?” Scott-20 asked. It was a good question.

Initially, it was thought that Cyclops’ were just large cannons, essentially mortar emplacements to rain down fire on approaching enemies. The mortar comparison was apt, as they often proved to be a detriment to their own forces up close. A damaged Cyclops was as likely to start blasting nearby Vex as it was an enemy. This seemed rather strange, given the precision shown by the Vex in all other respects. After much study, it was now believed that the Cyclops was primarily a sensor unit of some type, with the weapons abilities a secondary function. That fit with other similar notions about the Vex, such as the theory that Goblins were originally built for construction rather than combat. The Cyclops’ sensor capabilities would make it harder to slip around the excavation site undetected than it already would have been, given the lack of cover.

“What if we push right through?” Celeste asked. “I use the smoke and make us invisible, and we just go right through the middle. We could probably jump across those floaty things. If we move fast enough, we might be able to make it through before they even notice we’re there.”

“’Might’ being a key word there,” Zillah opined. “If that doesn’t work, we find ourselves either next to, or right in the middle of, a Vex compound of unknown intention, filled with unknown numbers of enemy combatants.”

“Why not just summon our jumpships?” Scott chimed in. “We could back out of range of the facility, call the ships, and drop in somewhere on the other side.”

“The same reason we didn’t use them in the first place,” Zillah snapped at the other Warlock. She hesitated a moment before continuing in a calmer tone. “We are trying to get past undetected. The Vex would see the ships and know we were coming. The same reason we can’t waltz right through the middle of them.”

“The only other option would be to try to go around,” I said. “Given the size of whatever it is the Vex are doing here, the lack of cover, and the number of Vex nearby, finding a safe way around will take some time with no guarantee we get by undetected.”

“How then do you suggest we proceed?” Scott asked.

“Go around,” Zillah stated. “It’s not like we are on a tight schedule, and it is the only path that doesn’t guarantee that we alert every Vex on Venus to our presence here.”

“Go through,” Celeste stated firmly, staring at the Awoken Warlock. “I know we can do it and the smoke will work. They’ll never expect it.”

“Meaning you just want to try something stupid,” the Warlock snipped back.

I glanced back and forth between the two women, deliberating. While I had no desire to spend the time we would have to creeping around the edge, Celeste’s plan was very risky. They turned from each other to face me, and I felt the weight of expectation. Moments like that are the reason I prefer to work alone. 

“We should see if there is a way around. If we can avoid detection, then that is what we need to do.”

Celeste’s shoulders slumped and she stared at me for a moment before turning and quickly marching back the way we had come. Zillah seemed to stand a little taller as she strode past, and Scott fell in behind her. I took in a deep breath, let it out in a long sigh, and then followed. 

We backtracked into the forest just enough to where we could keep an eye on the Vex while providing some cover for our movements. Celeste had gone deathly silent, never a good sign. We had not gone far when we ran into a Vex patrol. We tried skirting around them like we had done previously, but ran into another group. There was no way to continue further without losing track of the excavation. We doubled back and tried to go around the other way, finding similar obstacles. Going around was starting to seem less viable by the minute.

“Darkness take the Vex and their thrice-cursed networks,” Zillah seethed. I couldn’t blame her. Any other foe we could maybe take out one patrol and push through the gap, but with the Vex neural net, they would know much sooner what had happened to any we destroyed.

“Motion,” Elgan announced through the internal coms, and I waved for everyone to get down. I dropped into a crouch, pressing myself up against the nearest tree Zillah did the same, Scott went prone, and Celeste went the opposite direction, leaping into a tree and disappearing in the leaves. The cause of Elgan’s warning came into view moments later as a Harpy floated past, tentacle-like filaments extended outward, searching. It hesitated for a moment before continuing on silently.

“I fail to envision how we can get past the Vex undetected at this point,” Scott commented as he rose, dusting leaves off his garments.

“So do I,” I replied. “And if we’re going to put them on alert anyway, I’d rather it happened as we’re passing through rather than having the entire riled up anthill between us and our destination. We might need to go straight through them.”

“Well, well,” Celeste said as she dropped down from the tree, “why didn’t anything think of an idea like that before? Oh, that’s right. I did.”

“That’s enough of that,” I said, “this was our best idea, it didn’t work. Moving on.”

Backtracking yet again, we returned to the place where we originally spotted the structure. We thought we heard another Harpy near at one point, but it never passed close enough for concern. Settling in, we observed the site for a time, trying to discern any pattern to the phasing of the machinery so we could plan a course through. Jumping across platforms that were probably phasing through time already didn’t sound like the best idea in the world, I definitely didn’t want to be on one when it left.

“It would seem the best approach is along the eastern side initially, a brief pause on the structure itself, then switching to the westward side to continue across,” Scott said after studying the pattern. “There is not much time between transitions, so we cannot stay on any platform for more than a few seconds.”

“We’re going to have to go pretty fast to make this work. You sure you’re up to the task, gramps?” Celeste asked me, a sure sign that her anger from earlier had subsided.

“You just worry about your smoke bombs,” I replied, “we’ll probably need to use another when we’re on the building.”

“I will,” she said to me. Then, addressing everyone, “I could have Whisper tag everyone so we could see each other, but those Cyclops’ would probably be able to track whatever I did. Meaning we’re going in blind. Everyone is going to have to fend for themselves for the most part. Also, the smoke won’t last long enough for us to go one at a time, so… try not to trip over each other.”

“Well this just sounds like a foolproof plan,” Zillah muttered under her breath.

Ignoring the comment, Celeste activated the smoke bomb, camouflaging us and confusing sensors. Knowing we had a lot of ground to cover and not much time, we emerged from cover in a full sprint, racing to the edge of the excavation. Neither the Cyclops or the Vex near it reacted to our presence. We had nearly timed it perfectly, and only had wait a moment before leaping to the first platform. 

I used Lift to carry me across, landing on the first piece of Vex machinery and instantly continuing toward the next. There was a loud clang of metal each time I landed on one, but it never drew a response from the Vex. If I looked very hard, I could make out a shimmer of movement near me from one of the others, but didn’t have time to concentrate enough to pick out everyone or even tell who it was. Continuing to press on, I leapt to the third and then the fourth platform. Next was the Vex structure itself. I landed on a ledge that would provide a little cover once the smoke wore off. As I turned to look back the way I came, something slammed into me hard.

My back hit the wall, and I heard a loud exhalation of air as the wind was knocked out of whoever crashed into me. I reached out quickly to help steady whoever it was, and grabbed a handful of Warlock robe. Pulling the person in, I crouched and dragged them down with me. The cloaking effect of the smoke bomb wore off, and I could see Scott sitting next to me. Glancing around, I saw the other two had made it across and were ducked or sitting near us.

“Thank you for the save,” Scott whispered.

“It’s what I do,” I replied with a shrug. I spared another glance down into the pit, very happy I’d caught him and we weren’t having to stage a rescue mission into that. Just more incentive not to mis-time a jump.

We stayed there on the construct for a few moments, regrouping and gaining our bearings. Looking down, I could see that the Vex excavation rivaled anything the Hive had done to the moon. It went down a very long way, odd Vex architecture jutting out at various points. I could see the glow of confluxes radiating somewhere below. The fact that the Vex could do something of this scale without it being noticed before was a worry for another day.

“Oh, you have no idea how badly I want to scan this,” Elgan chimed in my ear.

“I’m sure I could guess,” I replied on the internal com, smiling at his tone despite the situation.

“It’s so big. And weird. And new,” the Ghost whined. “Well, new for us. Who can say for the Vex. What would new even mean for them, anyway?”

“Maybe next time,” I told him, to which he replied with an electronic whimper.

We crept cautiously around the structure, our presence seemingly still undetected. Once we were to the other side, Celeste activated another smoke bomb, and we jumped from structure to structure to cross the other half of the chasm. Once again, we cleared the jumps without incident until the very end. Someone landed wrong when we hit the ground. I heard the fall, saw the dust disturbed as they rolled, then hard footfalls as they got up and ran. Unfortunately, the Vex heard it too, though they still couldn’t see us. Goblins pivoted, firing Solar bursts from their slap rifles in our general vicinity. The Cyclops stirred to life, sweeping back and forth searching for us, but unable to see through the cloak.

There was nowhere to go, however, and the cloak wouldn’t last forever. It would wear off while we were still in range and the Void cannon would hammer us as we tried to escape. Then I realized the open nature of the terrain could be a blessing as well as a curse.

“Elgan,” I called, and my Ghost materialized, keeping pace with me, “get my sparrow.”

He nodded and vanished. The Days of Wind appeared ahead of me and I jumped on. The others followed suit, their sparrows materializing several strides ahead of each of them as well. I hit the throttle and the green and white machine leapt beneath me, increasing the distance between me and the Vex exponentially. The Cyclops opened fire, but it was too late. The blasts splashed harmlessly on the ground behind us. 

“I told you it would work!” Celeste yelled over the coms, letting out a loud whoop.

“It was still a bad plan, we just got lucky,” came the retort from Zillah.

“Oh, don’t be so sour,” the Hunter said. “It worked, we’re alive, on our way, and the Vex are probably still trying to figure out what happened.”

We rode in silence after that. I went back and forth between watching for any signs of danger to enjoying being in a part of Venus that no human has passed through since the Collapse. We continue on for nearly an hour until we reached what felt like a safe distance from the Vex structure. We stopped and Celeste pulled out the map so that we could check our progress.

We had drifted to the west, so a slight adjustment needed to be made, but we had covered most of the distance to our destination. Climbing a small rise, we looked in the direction we needed to go. From what we could see, the terrain was mostly clear, with small clumps of trees occasionally dotting the landscape. There were a few places where the rock was broken, maybe able to provide some cover if need be, but for the most part it would be a straight shot through open ground. Mounting our sparrows again, we set off the complete the last leg of our journey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone who is a fan of Schlock Mercenary, Zillah paraphrases one of the Maxims here. It happens again later on as well.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

As we pressed forward, a large rise crested the horizon, stretching nearly as far as we could see. Clearly a massive geologic event had taken place here sometime in the past, causing an upheaval along a fault line and creating a sheer cliff face. Our destination turned out to be an entire campus at the base of this formation, though not quite as sprawling as what remained in the Ishtar Sink. Most of the buildings had held up well in the years since the Collapse. They definitely knew how to build in the Golden Age, I’ll give them that. A few sections of wall had crumbled, there were a few places where the roof had given in on a couple buildings, but things were mostly intact. 

We were on high alert for any sign that the Vex had found this place before us, but saw no hints of movement. As we drew closer and began to creep down the remnants of streets on our sparrows, we saw no signs of recently activity, giving hope that whatever had been on these computers would still be intact. Splitting up, we did a quick sweep of the campus and then met back up where we had first approached.

“No sign of anything,” Celeste said, stepping off her sparrow. “It’s a ghost town.”

“Good, that means the Vex probably haven’t found this place yet,” I replied.

“True, but there is no way to know if they managed to follow us,” Zillah chimed in, “so we need to find an access point quickly.”

“Agreed. Given the layout of the compound and the size of the center-most building, I believe it to be the best place to begin,” Scott opined.

We all dismounted our sparrows which digitized and disappeared as our Ghosts stored them away. On foot, we made our way along the cracked remains of a paved road. Elgan hovered briefly near my shoulder before quickly flitting toward the nearest building, scanning badly faded signs and markings. He moved to the next building and did the same. I kept an eye out for him to make sure he kept pace with us as we passed through the campus.

The eeriness of passing through empty, dilapidated buildings wore off a long time ago. Sadly, it was pretty much an everyday occurrence when one left the Tower. Every now and again, though, I would still get that feeling of being watched and have to double check behind me or spend a few minutes staring into a vacant window. There was nothing to see, however. The only unquiet dead here were us.

We reached the central building and found what seemed to have been the main entrance when this place was active. The double doors were open now, one lying flat on the ground, the other barely hanging on rusted hinges. Zillah gave it a push and it fell to join its brother. Ghosts materialized and activated their lights, giving beams of illumination to the darkened interior.  
Mold was growing on the walls, and everything was covered with dust, which was disturbed as we passed by, giving another indication that no one had been here in some time. The only thing left standing in the foyer was a large plasteel desk near the far wall. On either side of the desk were doorways heading further back into the building.

“We should probably split up,” I said, “Zillah, you’re with me. Celeste, you take Scott.”

“Left or right?” she asked.

“I’ll let you pick.”

She seemed to mull it over for a moment, then went to the door on the left, leaving the right for Zillah and I. Neither Warlock took issue with the division of forces. I’d almost been tempted to take Scott with me to keep an eye on him, but I trusted Celeste to take care of him and had a feeling sending her off with Zillah would not have ended well.

Passing through the right-hand door, we were greeted with a dark hallway, long enough that our Ghosts lamps did not reach the end. Immediately to our right was a stair well, heading both up and down into subterranean levels. Here we saw the first sign of the previous occupants of the building, as Elgan’s beam passed over two skeletons were huddled together just inside the now empty door frame. I could not see how far down the stairs went, but guessed it was several floors. Zillah’s Ghost disappeared over the side and confirmed that a moment later.

“There are three floors above accessible through this stair well; five floors down,” the chocolate-colored Ghost stated. “The bottom two floors have plasteel doors that are still in place.”

“We will probably need to go down,” Zillah stated. “Most of the important work will have been carried on below the surface. Systems down there would probably have been better protected from weather and whatever happened here during the Collapse.”

“Makes sense,” I said before switching to the wider communication frequency, “Celeste, we’re heading down to the lower levels. You two keep looking around topside.”

“Roger, roger,” came the response.

Zillah and I started down the stairs, while our Ghosts scanned and continued to provide light. There were more remains scattered along the stairwell, and we did our best to disturb nothing more than the dust. Reaching the bottom, we came to a solid, plasteel door, just as her Ghost had said. I tried the handle, but the door was locked. Placing my hand against the door, I leaned into it, and found it to be solidly in place. Stepping back, I focused the Void energy in my fist and punched the door hard. It bent from the force of my armored fist, then disintegrated. I stepped through the now empty door frame and lights sputtered and came to life. The whirring of fans could be heard in the distance, air filtration systems coming back on line. Inside, just past the doorway, stood a Vex Goblin.

I grabbed my scout rifle, bringing it to bear. Before I took a shot, I realized the Vex wasn’t moving. Looking again, I noticed the red “eye” in the middle of its fan-shaped head was blank and the mind core was missing. It was also suspended on some sort of frame, holding it in an upright position. The body looked ancient, much older than the collapse, a patina having formed on the bronze-colored shell. Glancing around the room, there were parts of other Vex bodies scattered around the room, which looked like some sort of laboratory. Zillah stepped in after me, taking in the scene. 

“I think you can put that away,” she said, placing a hand on my gun and pushing the barrel down. “This is… amazing. I knew the Ishtar Collective had found and studied Vex, but to actually find a lab… “

Her voice trailed off and she looked around. Stepping off to the right, she carefully lifted a clear cylinder full of radiolarian fluid off one of the lab tables and studied it for a moment, tilting the cylinder back and forth. She set it back down gently, then made her way slowly around the lab, glancing at the contents of each table, reaching out to touch a piece every now and again. The two Ghosts were floating back and forth as well, scanning everything.

“Feivel,” I heard Zillah call to her Ghost, “I’ve found a computer station, come help me get in.”

She settled into a creaky chair in front of the terminal. The chocolate colored Ghost stopped scanning and flittered back to her side. Elgan continued studying the various Vex specimens, humming happily to himself as he did so.

“Celeste,” I called up to the other team, “we’ve entered some sort of lab. It looks like they were studying Vex remains down here. Zillah found a computer and is trying to get in. Scott may want to come down. Find anything interesting up top?”

“Nope,” she replied. “Looks like this was mostly office spaces, conference rooms, things like that. Not much is left up here. The Cryptarchs might like getting their hands on a few of books if they could do it without them falling apart, but nothing else. I’ll send Scott down.”

I continued to study the Vex Goblin for a few moments, and then Scott arrived. Much as Zillah had before him, he weaved his way through the lab, picking up samples, taking everything in as he slowly made his way to the computer station. It briefly crossed through my mind that this must be a small taste of what Warlock heaven would be like.

Leaving the Warlocks to their work, I stepped out of the lab and took the stairs up to the next floor, which had the other plasteel door. Like the bottom floor, this door was locked and still firmly in place. There was a small round window in the door, but the room beyond was too dark to see anything. I briefly considered breaking it down to find out what lay behind it, but decided against it. We’d already found what we came for below. I was about to head back down to the Vex lab when I heard Celeste’s voice in my ear.

“Hey, Old Man, you might want to get up here. We’ve got rampaging kill-bots incoming.”

“Of course we do,” I replied, then added the Warlocks into the conversation. “I’m going topside. We’ve got Vex incoming. You two need to grab what you can as quickly as you can. Read and sort through it all later.”

I bounded up the stairs, earlier caution about not disturbing any remains pushed aside. The sound of sniper fire echoed down the hallway, though I could not tell at first which direction it came from.

“Where are you at, Kiddo?”

“End of the hall. Looks like it was a cafeteria or something. Caught the Vex trying to sneak in the back,” came the reply. That was followed with, “Oh no you don’t,” which I’m going to guess wasn’t directed at me.

“I’m going to check the front door, make sure they’re not trying to surround us. Think you can hold up on your own for another minute?”

“Oh, sure, I’m fine. What are a couple dozen murderous robots? Take your time. Maybe pick me up something at the gift shop.”

A quick check of the front lobby revealed no intruders. The Vex seemed to be only pushing in from one direction. I turned and sprinted down the hallway, footfalls echoing and mingling with the sounds of combat. Entering the room, I saw the remains of tables and chairs scattered about. Celeste was crouched near a shattered window, aiming out through it. The Vex were massing outside, Goblins and a couple Minotaurs firing at they approached the building. I noticed a Hobgoblin on top of one of the other buildings adding sniper fire, but it exploded almost as soon as I spotted it. Celeste reloaded.

“So, what’d you bring me?” she asked.

I couldn’t think of a good reply at the moment, so I ignored the question and shot out one of the other windows. The glass out of the way, I summoned a magnetic Void grenade and threw it at a Minotaur. It stuck and exploded, damaging the large robot and destroying a Goblin next to it. The Minotaur turned toward me, and I finished it off with several shots from my scout rifle. From there, I emptied the clip into a few Goblins, managing to hit them in the juice box, dropping each with a couple shots.

I reloaded quickly and sought out my next target. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Celeste switch from her sniper to a pulse rifle, peppering the Vex with three round bursts, fired with deadly accuracy. So far, we were holding out, but for every Vex that fell, two more seemed to teleport in. It seemed this might be a war of attrition, and we weren’t going to be able to hold out forever.

A swarm of Harpies followed the next batch of Goblins in, spreading out quickly, trying to use their mobility to their advantage. Shots came in through the other windows, attempting to pin us down. We were forced to divert our attention from the main body of Vex, and a Minotaur used that to charge forward, its heavy frame smashing through the wall. Celeste and I both turned to fire on the intruder, taking it down. That gave the other Vex time to press in closer.

“We need to fall back. We can move down the hallway, use the opening as a choke point,” I said as I shot off the head of an approaching Goblin, which began to spasm and fire wildly.

“Okay,” Celeste replied, then drew her Void bow. Firing a shot at the incoming Vex, she destroyed one Goblin, tethers lancing out to snare the others and halt their advance. I threw a grenade in the middle of the group, and we ducked back into the hallway.

“Zillah,” I called out over the comms, “please tell me that you two have things about wrapped up down there.”

Nothing but static over the line.

“Well that can’t be good,” Celeste quipped.

“Let’s get down there.”

We backed down the hallway, firing at a few Goblins that appeared in the doorway, dropping them. Celeste heaved a grenade down that exploded just past the frame of the door, a wall of Void fire lancing out, blocking the passage. This let us move quicker to get back to the stairwell. We arrived to find the stairs crowded with Vex on their way up.

I punched the first Goblin in its red optic, Void energy disintegrating the machine. I switched weapons quickly, grabbing my shotgun and blasting the next one in line. The Vex had clearly hoped to catch us still in the hallway. Goblins below tried firing up past their brethren to no avail. We tore our way through them, reaching the next landing.

“Where did these guys come from?” Celeste asked, and was soon answered. The other locked door now stood open, and the Vex were pouring out of it.

We continued to fight through the crowd, eventually reaching the door. Looking inside, the room looked smaller in length than the lab below. The walls were covered with electronics, cables snaking away to the form at the center of the room. Lying there, it’s baleful red optic focused on us, was the active torso of a Gate Lord. It looked different than others that had been reported, older, like the Vex shells below.

The Gate Lord let out a shrill, electric wail and more Vex materialized in the room. I was about to ask Elgan to give me my machine gun, when I realized I’d left him down in the other lab. I summoned another grenade and threw it, sticking on a Goblin near the larger Vex. The detonation bought us a little time, and we pushed down into the bottom floor.

Vex carcasses littered the floor of the lab. Obviously the ones from the room above had gone down as well as up. Zillah and Scott were hunkered down on the far side of the room. They stood when we entered, Scott breathing a sigh of relief. Elgan zipped over to me and digitized into my armor.

“When we could not reach you, we feared the worst,” Scott-20 said.

“Yeah, the comms were cut off. I’m going to guess it has something to do with the damaged Gate Lord in the room above us,” I stated.

“Gate Lord?” Zillah asked. “They must have found it and studied it as well. It’s still active, you say?”

“Yes, and calling for help. When we reactivated this room, other systems must have come online as well and woken it up. This place is swarming with Vex. We need to get out of here.”

“The Vex are still blocking signals,” Celeste said, “Whisper can’t reach my ship.”

“Then we need to fight our way out of here, maybe put that Gate Lord out of its misery while we’re at it,” I replied. “Scott, how’s your Light?”

“Fully charged.”

“Good,” I said, “Fire up your Storm Trance. We’ll follow you up the stairs. At the next level, hit the Gate Lord with everything we’ve got to kill the jamming. Once we’re out we can ride our sparrows far enough from the Vex mob to not get our ships shot down when they come for us.”

Scott let loose with Arc energy, electricity dancing from his fingertips and we followed him up. Vex blew apart at the surge of power that ripped through them. Once on the next floor, Arc lightning, bullets, and grenades tore apart the remains of the Gate Lord, and the jamming signal dropped. More Vex filled the hallway upstairs, and we fought our way through them back to the main lobby. A couple Hydras materialized as we exited the building, but they were too late to stop us. We were each able to summon our sparrows and rocket to safety.


	7. Chapter 7

Ch. 7

We sped off on our sparrows for several minutes, everyone but Celeste mostly silent. She made enough noise for all of us, laughing and yelling back at the Vex long past the point where they could have heard her. We stopped once we reached what felt like a safe distance from the compound. Celeste, Scott-20, and I dismounted while Zillah remained seated on her sparrow. Scott-20 stepped away, skimming through the data the two Warlocks had gathered.

“Ha,” Celeste burst out, pulling off her helmet, “that was great! Four Guardians against the Vex, guns and light blazing, and then that escape... I'd say they'd sing songs about it for years to come, but I can't sing, you two,” this directed to the Warlocks, “don't seem the singing type, and I know the old man never sings in public.”

“Yes, wonderful,” Zillah replied sarcastically. “Who doesn't love a good near-death experience.” Turning to me, she added, “I see why you two get along.”

“Are you ever not grumpy,” Celeste asked the Warlock, then stuck her tongue out at her.

“I am not...,” Zillah started to respond, when she was suddenly interrupted by our Ghosts all materializing at the same time.

“Urgent message on all channels, from the Tower,” they said in unison.

Zillah stopped talking and Celeste quickly put her helmet back on. The message from the Tower started almost immediately.

“This is Commander Zavala of the Vanguard,” a familiar voice rumbled, “speaking to all Guardians. There is a quarantine in effect. As you may or may not know by now, fireteams on Mars have encountered self-replicating technological mites of currently unknown origin. These mites can override armor systems and strongly affect the behavior and disposition of Guardians. All teams currently in the field are urged to remain there so long as you are able to find a safe refuge. All Guardians are forbidden from entering the City or any other civilian stronghold. No response yet from the Reef as to whether they will give unaffected Guardians safe passage. If you see an infected Guardian, avoid them if possible. Stay safe out there. We will provide updates when available. Zavala out.”

Following that, each member of the Vanguard sent a specific message to their respective classes of Guardians.

“Titans,” Zavala stated calmly, “we do not yet know what kind of danger this mite may present. So far, the adverse affects have been negligible, but we may not have seen the extent of it. Shield your brothers and sisters in the field. Be the wall that protects them from whatever this contagion is. Ikorra has agents working around the clock to find out what is infecting our ranks, and what we can do about it. Until then, all we can say is avoid it if possible. May the Traveler's Light protect you.”

After that, the messages repeated. When Zavala was finished speaking, I removed my helmet and stared at the ground. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that Celeste did the same. The Warlocks were silent for longer, before also uncovering. If I had to guess, I would say Ikorra Rey's message to them was much longer than Zavala or Cayde-6. I'd actually be surprised if Cayde's message was anything more than, “Watch your back and tell me all about it later.” Glancing around the group, the four of us stood quietly in shock for several moments, trying to process what we had just heard.

“Elgan,” I said, addressing my Ghost, “find out everything you can about the situation. We need to know what is going on.”

“Of course,” he said, then dematerialized.

I heard the Warlocks give similar orders to their Ghosts, as well as Scott instructing his Ghost to try sending the data from the Ishtar Facility to Executor Hideo.

“What do we do now?” Scott asked. “If we are not permitted to return to the Tower, where do we seek refuge? We are in hostile territory after all.”

“I know a place where we can go,” Celeste replied. “There is a cave where Hunters sometimes gather when they've been spending an extended time here on Venus. It's been outfitted with provisions and some simple defensive measures. I can take us there.”

“Very good,” I said, slipping my helm back over my head.

“A Hunter camp?” Zillah groaned.

“If you'd prefer, I could leave you out here with the Vex.”

Zillah seemed to actually consider that option for a moment, her glowing eyes glancing around the surroundings.

“Fine, let's go to your cave,” she finally replied, putting her Keeper's Mind helmet back on.

Celeste glared at her for a moment, before covering her head again as well. Scott scrambled to do the same.

“Whisper,” Celeste called out to her Ghost, “bring the ship.”

Her Ghost bobbed an affirmation, then dematerialized as well. A few moments later, a Phaeton class ship swooped down from the sky and hovered overhead. One-by-one we transmatted aboard. Celeste settled into the pilot seat to set course, while the rest of us arranged ourselves. Once we were settled in, the ship rocketed up to a sub-orbital position, making its way through the upper atmosphere of Venus. Once we were fully on our way, I turned to face Zillah and had Elgan open up a private comm channel.

“Listen up,” I said, “I don't know what it is going on with you, but something needs to change right now. You have been acting out since I met you in the City. You were dismissive of me, which I can live with. I don't have some burning need for everyone in the universe to like me so long as we get the job done. However, that has now turned into some sort of openly antagonistic relationship between you and Celeste.”

She made a sound to interject and I stopped her.

“No. You will let me say my piece, and then you can have your say. Again, I don't know where this is coming from, but it needs to stop. When it was going to be a quick mission, in and out, I was willing to put up with it. When things went a little sideways and we had to extend the excursion, it was still tolerable. Now, we're going to be stuck together for however long this quarantine lasts. We need to be able to function together as a group and not be at each other like bickering children. Do you understand me?”

“Yes,” she replied after a moment of hesitation.

“Good. Look, I know how Celeste can be. I've known her for years and she can try my patience beyond belief at times. Push past it. I'll have a talk with her as well. Now, I believe you had something you wanted to say?”

“No,” she replied after another pause, “I have nothing to say right now.”

I held out my hand toward her, palm outward, and she reluctantly took it and shook. Releasing her hand, I made my way toward the front of the ship and knelt behind the pilot seat, placing hand on Celeste's shoulder.

“Celeste,” I said over another private line.

“Uh oh. You only start with my name if there's a problem.”

“Really? I've have to mix that up a bit then, don't want to be too predictable,” I replied. She let out a noise that could only be described as an audible smirk. “But you are correct, there is a problem. You and Zillah.”

“Oh, come on,” she groaned, but I cut her off.

“No, I'm serious. Look, I know she has come across as a little... prickly. I don't know what that is about, and I don't really care at the moment. What I do know is that we are going to be around each other for a while longer than planned, and I need you to attempt to get along. Don't go starting arguments or picking at her. Don't do or say things to try to rile her up. Understood?”

“But she...”

“No. I've already talked with her about it too. This ends now.”

“Fine,” she said with a sigh. 

I patted her shoulder, then returned to my seat for the remainder of the trip. Zillah was still sittingly silently, her arms crossed over her chest and head turned away from us. Scott-20 was pouring over the download from the Ishtar facility again, trying to sort through reams of data. The remainder of the trip was a quiet affair. Eventually we felt the ship decelerate and start to descend toward the planet surface.

“End of the line, ladies and gentlemen. Please remain seated until the ride has come to a complete stop. Or, you know, I transmat you off my ship,” Celeste announced.

The three of us in the back stood, and were simultaneously transmatted to the surface. Celeste followed a moment later, and then Whisper sent the ship back into orbit. From the ruins I could see poking over the foliage, I figured we were near the main patrol region for Guardians, but I did not recognize the exact layout. Must be one of those areas just off the main trail highlighted on Celeste's map. The cave we were looking for wasn't immediately apparent.

“Come on,” Celeste waved for us to follow and then led us about 100 meters from the transmat zone. Whisper materialized and scanned a rock formation, which revealed itself to be a cloaked console. Taking off her glove, Celeste input a code, and a small section of cliff nearby rolled away, revealing a massive opening. A cacophony of voices could be heard coming from inside.  
“It sounds as though we were far from the only ones to consider this refuge,” Scott commented, and the four of us stepped inside.

The cave was impressive, I'll admit to that. The natural structure had been hollowed out and expanded even more, giving it a wide open feel. Plasteel beams reinforced the walls and ceiling. There were a number of seating areas arranged, and it looked as though beds were being brought in from somewhere to make extra sleeping accomodations. A large view screen dominated the eastern wall, though right now it was only showing the text of the general quarantine announcement.

Guardians of all classes milled about, some still in full gear, some dressed down to body suits for comfort. Everywhere the conversation was about the technological mites and what they could be. Drawing near one of the larger groups, I could hear they were all listening to one Hunter who said he saw infected Guardians. He was describing colorful little beads of light dancing around the heads of infected fireteams. Guardians that didn't seem to touch the ground. Guardians acting, for all intents and purposes, like drunken fools, laughing at nothing or shouting at the air.

Celeste caught sight of someone she recognized and waved, striding over to a dark skinned human Hunter. They embraced briefly, and he said something that made her laugh. Zillah had noticed the same crowd I had and was standing near me listening with rapt attention, her Ghost out likely to record every word. Scott-20 had moved off on his own, and I'd lost him in the crowd.

“Hey!” someone shouted in the crowd. “Hey, something happened in the Crucible, and it's being broadcast on one of the City stations. See if we can bring it up on the screen.”

An Exo Hunter near the screen held out his hand and his Ghost appeared, scanning the bottom right corner of the screen. There was a burst of static as the message went away, then a signal came through. An attractive newscaster appeared, her face struggling to conceal the worry she was feeling.

“As we all know, the Vanguard issued a quarantine order for all Guardians today. Many of you have probably been wondering what was happening. Well, we have what might be a first look at the contagion that is plaguing the Guardians. This is from a Clash match earlier today in the Crucible. This is exclusive footage.”

The image of the newscaster was replaced by the familiar sight of the Bannerfall arena. Lord Shaxx's voice boomed through the speakers, announcing the teams. Two members of Bravo team transmatted in late, and it was clear from the start that something was amiss.

They were Hunters, female, and both had little specks of multicolored light buzzing around their heads. The match began, and they both sat down rather than engage. The newscaster's voice came back in over the match audio for a moment.

“As you know, all Guardian audio is recorded and later added to replays of matches. This adds to the value of rebroadcasts of certain matches and helps censor any unsuitable material. We were able to get the audio recording as well as a transcript for these Guardians and will play it over the video footage.”

At first, all that could be heard was quiet laughter, then the voices chimed in.

“Hey, Jenny?” the Hunter in the blue shader began.

“Yes, Ginny?” replied the Hunter in red.

“Did I tell you about the new book I was reading?” Blue continued. “It's about labyrinths. I got lost in it.”

“Labyrinths are a-mazing,” said Red, and the two laughed again.

“Oh, I think the match started,” Blue said after a moment. “Let's go shoot some people.”

“Or, better yet,” Red opined, “we could shoot them.”

“Yes, that is better.”

The two of them rose to their feet and started to move, working together shockingly well, providing cover for each other and moving with surprising agility.

“Hey, Jenny, don't go up there,” Red called out to Blue as that skirted along the railing and moving to the outer heavy ammo drop, “those stairs are up to something.”

“Right, right. And when I get up top they'll just bring me down.”

Two members of team Alpha came around the corner, a Titan and another Hunter. The two women took them down with lethal efficiency, dealing the final blows with strikes. A picture in picture showed the two Guardians revive a few moments later, and when they did they had the same lights flickering around their heads as the two Hunters. The Titan stuck his arms straight out from his sides and started running in a figure eight pattern, making airplane noises. The Hunter looked at his feet.

“I can fly,” he shouted, then started to sprint. The camera zoomed in to show that his feet were ten centimeters above the ground.

Cutting back to the two women Hunters, the camera zoomed in as Blue pulled off her helmet, revealing short red hair. She stood staring at the lights flickering around it for a moment. Red tried flicking a few of the lights and then removed her own helmet, revealing she also had red hair cut short.

“Did you know that the nose is the scenter of your face?” Blue asked Red, then turned suddenly, flinging her helmet violently the direction they had come. It struck a member of team Alpha just as they emerged from a doorway, knocking the poor Warlock down. As he stood, the mites slowly began spreading over him as well, and he swatted at them wildly. He was so busy flailing at the little lights, he failed to watch where he was going and tumbled over the railing, falling off the tower.

Everyone in the cave watched in silence. After the Warlock fell, the feed cut back to the reporter who made a few comments about it being hard to watch, then segued into an advertisement. The screen switched back over to the quarantine announcement. I turned and slowly walked to a chair and dropped into it, trying to wrap my head around what I had just seen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was working on this story when the teaser stuff from Rise of Iron hit, and then Rise itself came out. I wasn't 100% sure when the story was set or where I was going with it until that happened and gave me a solid focus.
> 
> Jenny and Ginny were characters suggested by a friend of mine from fanfiction when I was first posting this story. The exact phrasing of the suggestion was:  
> Jenny and Ginny; the idiots of the Alpha quadrant, the purveyors of stupid, the village idiots, the expertiest experts in all of expert-dom, the deadliest duo to grace the galaxy, the rad red-heads with radioactive good looks, bad taste, and a whole ton of puns for periodic parodies.  
> Whew, I think I'm done now


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

 

The silence did not last long as a clamor of voices soon filled the cave. I listened as other Guardians tried to figure out what they had just watched. Some thought it looked entertaining while others expressed fear or curiosity. Regardless, few wanted to sit here and wait it out. 

I removed my helmet and ran my hands over my face, taking in a deep breath and letting it out with a rush. Closing my eyes, I leaned my head back against the seat and tried to replay the events in my head, but found that only allowed weariness to catch up with me. The only rest I'd had in the last few days had been the short catnap between the Moon and the Tower, and since then I'd traipsed over what felt like half of Venus, been in multiple gun fights, and died somewhere in that process. Ghosts might be able to get us back on our feet quickly, but that still took a lot out of a person. This, however, was clearly not the time to sleep.

Getting to my feet, I decided to take a quick tour of our temporary shelter. The size of the main room reminded me of the cafeteria of an old school building I had come across. Dozens of Guardians milled about, and it looked like there was plenty room for more. There were a few openings along the wall that revealed other rooms. I assumed the one I had seen the cots being removed from must be storage. There were no signs to give any clues to the purposes of the others. 

Taking some time to actually study the cave, I could see sections of the walls that looked different than others. There were places that were clearly the natural wall, as well as places that people had worked on. Of that, some of the digging looked to have been done hastily, where as others places looked smooth. The placement of the plasteel beams was a little more haphazard than I had noticed at first glance as well. Even so, it was impressive that a place like this had been hollowed out essentially under the Vex's nose. So to speak.

The cafeteria impression was reinforced slightly by the large area toward one corner set up to provide food and drink. A drink suddenly sounded very appealing, so I made my way over. I didn't expect anything fancy, which is just as well as they were only stocked with basic supplies. Accepting some water, I took a drink. It was surprisingly cool. I wanted to take a moment to enjoy it, but suddenly heard an obnoxious buzz emanating from my helmet. Elgan had something he wanted to share. Finishing the drink quickly, I put the headgear back on.

“I've done quite a bit of digging,” the Ghost began. “I've had to listen in on some channels I probably shouldn't have, but it has been quite informative. Most of this is coming from something called 'Owl Sector'. Never heard of it before, but they seem to be some clandestine scouting group. Along the lines of Ikora's 'Hidden' perhaps? Anywho, reports indicate that there are five different types of these electronic mites and the prevailing theory is that they originate from Clovis Bray research facilities on Mars and were released recently by parties unknown. Possibly Fallen, though that doesn't make sense.” 

“Any more information on what was happening with the Guardians in the Crucible or the effects of these 'mites'?”

“What we saw in the video seems pretty consistent with other reports; Guardians acting ecstatic, the floating lights, occasionally hovering off the ground, stating they feel more powerful than normal. They also seem to actively seek out other Guardians and try to infect them as well. It's all very strange.”

“That seems to be an understatement. Keep me updated as anymore reports come in,” I replied.

“Of course. There was something else I wanted to tell you. I believe I have made some progress on the possible identity of our Hunter 'friend' from the Moon.”

“You did? What have you got?”

“Based on armor, speech patterns, and movements, I have narrowed it down to a handful of suspects. I have compiled some still images and video...”

“Show me,” I stated, cutting him off.

“... that I can show you. Ahem,” he made an irritated noise in my ear, and then my HUD went blank. Seconds later, video of a Crucible match began replaying. It showed a Hunter in Future War Cult garb engaged in a Clash match on Firebase Delphi. The Hunter had circled around the interior hallway and slipped behind the opposing team. He ignited his Arc Blade and cut them down before sprinting to another location.

“Skip to the next one,” I said, and the image shifted, giving me another Hunter dashing around the Anomaly, darting into the cavern and igniting his blade to take out a Titan and Warlock as they tried for a heavy ammo drop.

“Next.” A Hunter sniping another Hunter at Twilight Gap. “Next.” Three shots from a hand cannon followed up with a Blink Strike. “Next.” Another snipe, this time on Pantheon followed by a hand motion.

“Wait,” I interjected, feeling myself stand up a little straighter, “play that one again.” The Hunter had taken up a common position near the drop in point, facing down a long corridor. Snipers from both teams often lined up at opposing ends and tried to take out each other or any other Guardian foolish enough to enter their lane. The Hunter readied his sniper rifle and fired. Two reports, two head-shots, two opposing Guardians down. Then the Hunter lowered his rifle, and gave a mocking salute before turning and sprinting off in a different direction.

“That's him,” I stated. “That's the same thing he did right before transmatting out with all the relics.”

“So it is,” Elgan murmured. “Pulling up more information now. Hunter Jaeger-10. Exo, obviously. Has been with the War Cult for a number of years. Active, but very little information public. Seems secretive, like most of the Cult. Vanguard records indicate excellent mission success rate and impressive Crucible statistics. Never seeks recognition for either, however. Current whereabouts: unknown.”

“Blast. Well, it's not like we could go after him right now with the quarantine in place anyway. Keep digging, find out anything more you can.”

“Of course,” the Ghost stated flatly.

“Oh, and Elgan? Nice work,” I told him, which got a happy little trill out of him. I reached up and removed my helmet to find Celeste standing directly in front of me, grinning. She had removed her helmet as well, along with other bits and pieces of her armor, making herself more comfortable.

“So, what do you think?” she asked sweeping her hand in a grand gesture to encompass the cavern.

“I'm impressed. What is this place, exactly?”

“It's a cave,” she deadpanned and stared at me for a moment before smiling again. “It was a Hunter haven, a place where we could hide out when we were on Venus for long stretches. When that strike team raided the Vault of Glass and took down Atheon, some Guardians felt like we were going to start pushing back the Vex, and they began expanding our little cave to make it an honest to goodness base of operations on Venus. That didn't exactly happen, but it hasn't stopped them from continuing to try.”

“Well, given everything that is happening now, I'm glad they didn't give up.”

“I guess”, she replied. “I have to say, I'm not really sure why the Vanguard has us hiding from this. It looks harmless enough. Even a little fun.”

“Judging by the room,” I said, gesturing to the gathered Guardians as we made our way back to where I had been sitting before, “you're far from the only Guardian to feel that way. Unsurprisingly, it seems to be mostly Hunters who share that sentiment. Half the Warlocks seem to want to be infected too, but for study purposes. It's times like this that remind me that Titans are about the only Guardians with any sense.”

She rolled her eyes at that last part.

“Careful, Old Man,” she said with a smirk, “the room might be more mixed than normal, but the numbers do still favor Hunters. Talk like that might get you tossed out to brave the infection on your own.”

I chuckled and settled back into a seat, looking over the crowd once more. Celeste plopped down in the next seat over, swinging her legs over the arm of the chair.

“Maybe the quarantine will end up being a good thing,” I mumbled, closing my eyes and resting my head against the chair. “Force everyone to stay still for a little while. How often do we get a respite from fighting the good fight?”

“You know better than that,” was the response. “I don't see this holding more than two days tops, regardless of what the Vanguard says. It isn't only because of Hunters either; Guardians of all stripes are driven to go out and do.”

“I know,” I sighed, “I know. Call it a glimpse into a Titan's dream. Or maybe just mine. Quiet days and a Wall no longer under siege. This would have been a false peace, of course, but...” I shrugged.

“Sounds boring,” she stated, then nudged my leg with her foot. “Which tells me why a Titan would like that idea.”

I laughed and waved her off, then laced my fingers together and rested my hands on my stomach. I took a deep breath and tried to let events of the last few days go. The sound of someone clearing their throat forced me to open my eyes with a groan. Scott-20 stood nearby, fingers steepled and drumming against each other.

“My apologies for the interruption,” he began, “I just wanted to keep you abreast of developments.”

“No worries,” I said, “pull up a seat.”

“Since boarding Celeste's ship, I have been pouring over the Ishtar data,” he continued as he sat. “I believe I found exactly what I was looking for. Now, if only I could return to my study. I digress. Upon arrival here, I was able to reach out to Executor Hideo. We were able to establish a strong enough connection to transmit the data from the Ishtar Facility. He sends his regards, and says that your armor will be left with the postmaster and will have green Chroma activated.”

“Thanks for letting me know. What did he have to say about the information?”

“After a cursory examination, he seemed most pleased.”

“What was it you were looking for anyway?” Celeste asked.

“There were two distinct goals,” the Warlock said, adopting a tone that sounded like a professor beginning a lecture. “The Executor was looking for information on Vex weaponry and the composition of their metallic frames in an attempt to improve weapon production at his foundries. I was seeking information regarding Vex Time Gates. The Ishtar Collective had spent much more time studying both than we have be able to as of yet, particularly since they captured a functional specimen. I am greatly anticipating getting back and spending time pouring over it all at greater depth.”

“Well, I doubt you'll have to wait long,” Celeste replied, “we were just discussing how this quarantine won't last.”

“Yes, Guardians are a difficult lot to contain under the best of circumstances,” he intoned. “I imagine the quarantine will fall apart shortly. Particularly given the lack of restraint exhibited by infected Guardians thus far.”

“I think things are about to take a more serious turn,” another voice interrupted. We all looked over to find that Zillah had joined us.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I've had Feivel digging through every bit of information he could find about the infection. He just told me that reports are indicating there have been casualties.”

“Guardians?”

“No,” she responded. “It was a couple civilians who were working in the Tower. They had contact with an infected Guardian, and initially showed some of the same symptoms. However, it quickly incapacitated them. One is dead, the other nearly so. Thus far, there are no indications that these mites harm Guardians. Whether that will hold, no one knows.”

“It's true,” Elgan chimed in my ear. “I just found those reports as well. The Vanguard are not going to be happy about that.”

Always Mr. Obvious, that Ghost. Within hours, we got their response. A message went out on all bands, this time the same message to all Guardians. The quarantine warning on the view screen in the cave vanished and was replaced by the orange and white on black Vanguard logo, which in turn was replaced by the dark-skinned face of Ikora Rey.

“Greetings, Guardians. I wish I came to you with better news. By now you are all aware of the infection that has been spreading among our ranks. In an attempt to slow the spread of these mites, the Vanguard instituted a quarantine for all Guardians. That has failed. The infection is spreading faster than anyone had anticipated, and now we predict it will reach the entire Guardian population within the week. 

“What we have to do now is to protect the rest of humanity from this plague, and from us. While we are uncertain still what long term effect this infection may have on Guardians, we now know that it is lethal to those without the blessings of the Traveler. As such, we are stiffening the restrictions on Guardians entering the Last City, or any other known civilian strongholds. Any Guardian caught attempting to enter one of these locations will be considered an enemy combatant and treated accordingly.

“Keep yourselves safe. Uninfected Guardians, we ask that you strive to remain so. Be watchful for Guardians who have been affected. If you see them attempting to break this command, you are to use lethal force to stop them. May the Traveler's Light keep you all. Ikora out.”

With that, Ikora vanished from the screen. It now held the mandate to avoid all civilian locations rather than the previous quarantine notice. The response to this message was louder than before, with several Guardians heading straight for the door as the quarantine was effectively lifted.

“Well, I guess I was too generous with my two day estimate,” Celeste said, running a hand through her red hair.

“Did she really just authorize lethal force?” Zillah questioned incredulously.

“Yes, she did,” I answered. “I never thought I'd hear the Vanguard authorize the potential death of Ghosts. Clearly, some of the others here are not taking this as seriously as they should.”

“What do we do now?” Scott queried.

“The only thing we can do right now. Watch and wait.”


	9. Chapter 9

Ch. 9

So we waited. Celeste quickly grew antsy, having a hard time resisting the call of the wild now that sitting still wasn't mandatory. I spent time reading and re-reading every scrap of information that Elgan could get me on Jaeger-10, which wasn't much. It did seem a certain pattern to his movements was beginning to emerge, however I couldn't quite put my finger on it and frustration began to set in. Deciding to take a break and try again when my mind was fresh, I set the problem aside. Scott-20 poured over the recovered data from the Ishtar facility. At first, I thought Zillah was going over it with him as well, then I caught a quick glimpse of her data pad and noticed a flash of the emblem of Mara Sov, Queen of the Awoken.

The Queen had been believed dead ever since the Awoken faced off against Oryx when his dreadnaught entered the solar system. Curious, I strode over to where she sat and took a seat nearby. She was so absorbed in her work that she didn't notice me at first. I cleared my throat, and she glanced up, blinking her yellow eyes as if having to refocus on her surroundings. I was momentarily struck once again by the exotic beauty that the Awoken generally possessed.

“Mind if I ask what you're working on?”

“What, it isn't enough that you lecture me on my behavior, now you want to monitor everything I do?” she retorted.

“Not at all,” I said, holding up a hand in a placating gesture. “I just noticed it looked like you were working on something different than Scott and was curious. I figured you would be pouring over the Vex data.”

“Oh, that?” she glanced quickly at the Exo and looked away. “I don't particularly care about that. I mean, all information has value, of course, but I didn't come to Venus looking for any insight into the Vex, as fascinating as they can be.”

“Then why the mission?”

“I needed to come to Venus for my own purposes, and thought it best to come with a fireteam,” she said with a shrug. “I'd worked with Scott in the past and was more than happy to help him accomplish his goal if I met my own.”

“And did you?”

“No.” The answer was quiet and seemed to carry a lot of weight for so small a word. She closed her eyes and reached up to rub the back of her neck. “I thought I could find something. Or at least something to point me in the right direction. If I could only...” A pause. “Well, it doesn't matter now. I'll have to start over once I can get back to my study, search for new leads.”

“It sounds like it was something important to you. For what it's worth, I'm sorry you didn't find what you were looking for.”

“It could have changed everything,” she whispered, her eyes gaining that far-off look again, before snapping back into focus. “I think that is quite enough for now. If you'll excuse me, I need to get back to my work.”

 

What ever moment of vulnerability had been there disappeared. The Warlock's face became impassive as it turned from me. Before she even had time to turn back to the data pad, however, our time of waiting came to an abrupt end. It turns out that hiding from infected Guardians in a Guardian facility, even if it is only known to a small number, isn't the best of ideas.

I didn't look up when I first heard the door. Guardians had been coming and going, well, mostly going, since the quarantine was lessened. The sound has become somewhat routine. The pounding of footsteps that followed were less so. I saw Zillah's eyes widen and turned my focus just in time to see a Titan slam into a nearby Hunter with a shoulder charge, sending the other Guardian flying across the room. Behind the Titan, two more Hunters had entered the room, igniting their Arc blades. I only had a moment to notice the strange beads of light that flitted around all the interlopers before the Titan unleashed a Fist of Havoc, and everything went black.

I woke to a moment of disorientation that was replaced quickly by a feeling of pure joy. All the strain and weariness I had been feeling was gone, replaced with elation. I had never felt so free. A small voice in the back of my mind tried to put a damper on these feelings, tried to talk of an infection, but louder words shouted it down. Infection? That spoke of disease or infirmity. This was the best thing that had happened to me, short of being reborn by the Traveler. I felt better than I ever had. Any dissenting voices were quickly washed away.

I felt all the years I'd spent since my resurrection melt away. What use was worry? What did I have to fear? We were Guardians, blessed by the Traveler and filled with might. We had killed gods of the Fallen, Hive, and Vex. The Fallen were disorganized scavengers. The Hive were leaderless and felt neutralized as a threat. The Vex were time travelers, if they could actually stop us they would have gone back in time and done it already. The Cabal were stuck in a quagmire on Mars. Why were we hiding behind a wall? We should be spreading out across the solar system!

I let out a small chuckle that quickly grew into uncontrollable laughter. I tried to rise to my feet, but slipped and that just made me laugh so hard that tears formed in my eyes. My entire body shook, and I rolled around on the floor, struggling to get to my hands and knees. After a few moments, the laughter lessened enough that I managed to get fully upright.

A sudden urge to spread this sensation washed over me. Everyone should feel this good. How cruel would it be to keep this from them? I put my helmet back on, feeling a driving sense of need to find others. Others? There were other Guardians here! I glanced around, but I could sense that everyone around me was already affected.

“Infected!” a voice tried to yell a correction in my ear, but I ignored it. The people around me were strong and hale. I could physically see the light pouring from them, burning brighter than ever before.

There was nothing I could do here, so I needed to leave the Hunter lair. Needed to find more to share this feeling with. I started toward the exit. Something inside my armor tried to resist, to gain control of the motor functions, but I was stronger. Pushing through, I made my way out of the still-opened door.

I stepped into a downpour, a strong Venus rain pounding the landscape. Cupping my hands, I let the water pool in my palms before throwing it back toward the sky with a laugh. Venus was so beautiful, even now. I stood for a moment, listening to the rain pelt my armor, watching it run in rivulets across my vision, then continued my search. I hadn't gone far, when I ran into a Vex patrol. 

Incompatible, a voice sounded in my mind. 

I felt a moment of pity for the poor alien machines. There was so little light emanating from them. How sad to burn so poorly, and to be unable to experience what I now felt. Those thoughts passed quickly, replaced with notions about just how good it would feel to punch them. I raced forward with a feral grin, moving so quickly a Bladedancer would have been jealous. The Goblins barely had time to turn when I was on them.

I planted my foot on the hood of a rusted out car and launched myself with a yell. My fist slammed into the first Goblin, which exploded into Void energy. My other hand struck the next in line, alien metal crumbling beneath my gauntlet. I then grabbed the crippled Goblin and flung it at the next, both falling down in a flailing pile of metallic limbs. I grabbed a leg and pulled, ripping it off, and then proceeded to smash both Vex with it until they stopped moving.

A Harpy bleated out an alarm, then opened fire. Two more spun into view, having been shielded from my view by some rubble. I threw the leg and then jumped onto the first, fingers prying into the seems near its eye and pulling violently. The Vex machine screamed as it tore in half, each piece becoming a projectile I could launch at its compatriots. They fell, impaled by shards of the first victim.

I stood, breathing heavily, and glanced at my hands. Something deep inside recoiled from what I had just done, but again, vanished quickly. I now stood of two minds. One wanted to continue to savage the Vex, reveling in the violence. The other wanted to return to our original purpose, finding more Guardians. The second thought won out and I decided transmat up to ship. There were better places to look than Venus. Something locked me out of the system, however.

“You aren't leaving the planet, Claney,” the annoying voice from earlier sounded in my ear again. My mind quickly put a name to the irritant.

“Elgan,” I stated, unexpected venom in the word.

“Yes, of course. You are clearly not in your right mind, so I am taking matters into my own hands. It's for your own good.”

“My own good?” I responded, “What could be better than this? I feel fantastic! More alive than I ever have. At least, more alive than I have since you decided it would be a good idea to bring me back into this nightmare world. Who knows, maybe I was much happier in my old life. Or being dead, if you want to believe most religious teachings. I guess I'll never know, since I can't remember any of it.”

“Claney...”

“No,” I shouted, cutting him off. “I'm here because of a decision you made. Well, you don't get to make my decisions anymore. Get out here.”

“I don't think I'll be doing that. And you are not leaving Venus.” With a squeal of static, the Ghost cut off the internal communication line.

“Elgan!” I yelled and ripped my helmet off, throwing it away from me and bouncing it off a rock. I knew that wouldn't get rid of him, but at least I didn't have to hear his smug little voice anymore. Just to make sure he didn't bother me, I grabbed the Kumakatok still strapped to my back and fired at the curved shape, cursing him silently as I emptied the clip.

Other places would make for more target rich environments, but there were Guardians on Venus. It was just a matter of finding them. I motioned to summon for my sparrow, then realized that Elgan would have to do it. No transmat, no speeder, and thanks to us traveling here with Celeste, I didn't even know where on the planet I was exactly. 

An overwhelming despair settled on me then. I was stranded on this planet; isolated with rain now beating down on my exposed face and scalp. I had no where to go and no way to get there. I dropped to my knees into the mud, hopeless. Thoughts of falling face first into a puddle and just laying there until I choked on it pass through my mind, but I knew Elgan would just bring me back and I'd still be stuck here. Instead, I gave up and fell backward, face toward the Venus sky. 

A lone batadactyl braved the rain, searching for prey. I watched it struggle with the wind and rain, and felt deep empathy for the solitary creature. Watching it circle, I realized that its high vantage point gave it an advantage over me. I hated the wretched beast for a moment and considered trying to shoot it down, then it dawned on me that I could take advantage of altitude as well. I could climb a tree, get a lay of the land, and see if I could spot any familiar landmarks.

The despair I'd sunk into disappeared in a moment, replaced by the elation of hope. I rose from the muck I'd been lying in and bounded to the first tree, leaping up to grasp a branch. I climbed and jumped, gaining as much height as I could before the tree started to bend under the unexpected burden. I laughed again, exhilarated by the act of making my way up the trunk. 

I surveyed the surrounding area and was startled to see that we were so close to the Ishtar Commons. It made sense that any attempt at building a base would be near the place Guardians had the firmest hold on, but made it more surprising that Hunters had kept it so secretive. Filthy, sneaky Hunters.

Leaping from the tree, I thrilled at the free fall, activating Lift just before I struck the ground, giving me a soft landing. Instantly, I was on the run, heading toward the Commons. I was sure to find Guardians there. Not having a sparrow would slow me down, but right now I felt like I could run forever.

The rain began to relent, slowing to a light drizzle. With fewer rain drops, the flicker of small beads of light became more apparent. They distracted me enough that I missed a tree root and tripped, sending me sprawling across the ground. I laughed at how ridiculous it must have looked to anyone else. The beads caught my interest again and I lay there, watching them dance around me. When I tried to touch them, the flowed around my glove like water. It was captivating.

I would have stayed there longer but the insistent voice in my head chimed in again, reminding me of my mission. I pouted like a petulant child for a moment. All I wanted to do was watch the pretty lights. It reminded me I would be able to see them all around me if I passed them on to other Guardians, and that was all the motivation I needed. Back on my feet, I set off on a sprint again, this time careful to watch for hazards.

I am not sure how much time passed as I ran. The dense cloud cover made it difficult to see the sun or stars, and without a HUD I had no other way to judge the passage of time. I finally reached the Commons, only to find it empty. I couldn't see any Guardians or Vex, and had no sensors without my helmet. I cursed the Ghost again for making me destroy my helmet like that. With no other idea of what to do, I climbed into the remains of an old vehicle to wait.

Time passed slowly, and I eventually fell asleep. I woke to the sound of voices, and burst from my resting place, hoping to find people. Instead, I saw that traitor Elgan, obviously in communication with someone.

“What do you think you're doing?” I asked angrily.

He spun to face me, his shell spinning around anxiously. I knew I had caught him plotting against me, his guilt was obvious. Anger surged and my jaw clenched.

“Claney,” he began, actually backing away from me slightly. “I was in communication with the Vanguard. Owl Sector found a way to stop the nanites. There is a shutdown code that can be transmitted to them, shutting them down completely. I just need to scan you and I can deactivate them.”

“No.”

“I... what?”

“I said no,” I stated firmly, glaring at the floating ball of metal. “I don't want them 'turned off'. I like feeling this way.”

“That isn't you talking, it's the tech mites,” the Ghost started again, but I cut him off.

“You don't know what you're talking about.”

“Actually, I do.” Always so smug. “What you've been going through fits exactly with recorded reactions to the nanites. You've been erratic and experiencing wild mood swings, which is nothing like the Claney I know. Please, just let me scan you and you will feel much better.”

“Not going to happen,” I responded, suddenly finding the Kumakatok in my hand again, pointed at the Ghost.

“What are you doing?”

“I'm not going to let you change me back. I don't want to shoot you, but I will.”

“You realize that if you kill me, you lose connection to the Light,” the little machine said, trying to reason with me. “No more Ward of Dawn. No more resurrections. The next time you die, that would be the end of you.”

“Maybe I would rather die than give this up.”

The Ghost hesitated, shell spinning quickly now. I saw the sections begin to open in a scan, and I pulled the trigger. Elgan disappeared, and panic set in.

“No! Elgan! What... what did I do?”

I dashed forward to the spot where he'd been hovering, but saw no dead Ghost or shell fragments. I stood confused, until I noticed a glow emanating from behind me. The little sneak had dematerialized and popped back in behind me. I turned, bringing the hand cannon to bear again. Halfway around, I collapsed, slamming hard into the Venus soil. 

The little motes of light that had danced in my vision disappeared. All of the wildness I'd been experiencing vanished suddenly, leaving me feeling emotionally drained. I felt hollow. Elgan drifted back into my peripheral vision, but I didn't acknowledge him.

“Claney?” he asked. When I didn't respond, he opened up and scanned me again. “All vitals returning to normal. I'll let the Vanguard know the shutdown codes worked.”

I struggled to my feet, feeling weak as a newborn. The colors around me felt muted, all my senses feeling dulled. My arms hung limp at my sides, the hand cannon still laying on the ground where I'd fallen. I never wanted to touch it again.

“Claney?” Elgan tried again.

“Take me to my ship,” I whispered. “Get me off this planet, and then leave me alone.”

“I...” he started, then stopped. “Of course. Transmatting.”

The familiar sensation of being transported from one location to another gripped me and I left Venus behind.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The next five days I stayed aboard the Invictus in a self-imposed exile, the majority of which was spent on my bunk staring at the ceiling. The armor I'd worn on Venus still lay on the floor where I'd dropped it when I first transmatted up. I had lacked energy to pick it back up initially, and then I simply did not care. An unshakable lethargy had settled over me after the ordeal.

I messaged the Vanguard to let them know that the signal had worked. I sent a simple acknowledgment to Celeste's increasingly agitated communications just to assure her that I was alive. The rest I ignored. I had no desire to speak with anyone right now.

In a rare showing of situational awareness, Elgan stayed mostly out of sight which was a blessing. I wasn't sure how I could face the Ghost again, which would make this whole “being a Guardian” thing somewhat difficult. The moment that I pulled the trigger kept replaying over and over in my mind, tormenting me. A small part of me wished I hadn't left the hand cannon behind on Venus so that I could destroy it now in a more direct manner. It wouldn't have accomplished anything, but might have made me feel a little better.

Eventually I had to return to some semblance of normalcy. I knew that, of course. Deep inside I could feel duty beckoning me to return to arms. It was that call and the thought of what horrors could be unfolding if every Guardian had reacted to the infection by withdrawing in the same manner I had that eventually led me to end my five day sabbatical.

Emerging from my cabin, I made my way to the cockpit and settled into the pilot's chair. Venus still hung below as I hadn't had the motivation to actually move out of orbit. Repressing a shudder, I tore my eyes away from its swirling cloud cover and turned my attention to the control panel. I plotted course, and watched through the screens as the ship launched toward Earth.

I caught a glimpse of my reflection one one of the screens. The ghostly image looked haggard against the backdrop of space. Several days worth of beard growth covered my face and my eyes held a haunted expression. I'd seen a similar look in refugees I had escorted to the Last City over the years.

The first time had been shortly after my resurrection, back when I had been assigned to my original fireteam, Fireteam Beircheart. The leader, an old Titan named Donvan, said that it was an ancient word that meant “bright army”, and that was what we felt like. Me, Donvan, an Exo Titan named Caelen-5, Hunters Sarai and Kado, and Warlock Sen, all filled with Light and ready to charge into the Darkness. Since most of us were young and inexperienced, the majority of our patrols stayed near the Wall.

We were on a routine mission when the transmissions began coming in. They were desperate pleas for help, broken and full of static as they came from some cobbled together radio without much power. Donvan deployed us to meet them as they tried to make their way through a mountain pass. As we drew near, they started shouting for our help and many of them tried to run to us. This change in the pattern of movement caused a young child to lose his balance and tumble over the edge. All we could do was watch helplessly as the small body disappeared. The ones who reached us were near starvation, flesh hanging off their bones, their clothes threadbare. Even after getting them to the City, the journey had simply been too much for some of them and they died within days.

It had shaken the new Guardians in our ranks, actually seeing this reality of the new world that we had previously been spared. Donvan had been enraged. He questioned the refugees who were strong enough and figured out the location of the Fallen who had been harassing them. Our response had been swift and fierce; none of the Fallen were left alive. It did nothing for the dead, but there was satisfaction in giving them justice and making sure none shared their fate at the hands of this band of murderous scavengers.

I'd seen that look many other times over the years. Always, the response was swift and sure. This time, there was no enemy to inflict vengeance upon. All that we would be able to do would be to force a return to routine and pick up the pieces of any damage that had been caused. Nothing I could do to bring peace to that face in the reflection. My contemplation was interrupted by a small noise behind me.

“Elgan,” I said softly, closing my eyes and lowering my head.

The Ghost approached slowly, drifting into view on my left-hand side. He kept his optic turned away from me, seeming to study the stars. We sat in silence for several moments. Shame filled me once again and I was forced to turn my head away. Eventually, I spoke up.

“Elgan,” I started, my voice catching in my throat, “I... I don't know what I can say right now. There's nothing I can do to make up for what happened. What I did. The things I said...”

“It wasn't you,” the Ghost replied.

“But it was. Not taking a shot at you, but the things I said when you refused to take me off the planet, there was some truth there. There are days when I hate you for bringing me back. This world is full of pain and suffering; so much of it is just misery and endless fighting. As much good as I know I can do, and as many good days as there may be, there are times when I just wish you had left me lying there on the side of that road. Or that one of the times I fall you simply don't revive me again.”

I could hear the parts of his shell whirling as he took in what I said. Surprisingly, he offered no response.

“Those days are few and far between,” I continued after a brief pause. “I am grateful to you for bringing me back, and if something would have happened to you I would not have been able to live with myself.”

“So, what you're saying is, you like me?” Elgan asked in a wry tone that I had come to recognize over the years as the Ghost being amused at himself. 

I coughed out a laugh in spite of myself and looked over at the little Light, the center portion of his shell spinning in a fashion that meant he was quite pleased with himself.

“You are insufferable, you know that?”

“You say insufferable,” he retorted, “but what you mean is irreplaceable.”

“I might, except it would go straight to your head, and since you have to ride around inside my armor, we can't have that getting any bigger than it already is.”

“Speaking of which,” he asked, “what do you want to do with the mess in the corridor?”

“Break it all down,” I said, the moment of levity slipping away. “I don't want to wear any of that again. No way to be certain it isn't compromised by what happened. Even if it is completely free of the nanites, it would just serve as a reminder.”

He bobbed a nod and started to turn away, but I stopped him.

“Actually, wait. Maybe I need a reminder, so that I don't let it happen again” 

I rose from my seat and followed him to where the armor sat in a pile, a puddle of Venus rain water collected beneath it. Reaching down, I picked up the Mark I'd been wearing and tore a strip off of the cloth. I tied the fabric around my arm and contemplated it for a moment.

“That will do. Get rid of the rest of it,” I told him.

I returned to the cockpit for the remainder of the trip. The NLS drive shut down as we approached Earth, and I smiled at the sight of the blue-white orb. I opted to handle all aspects of the approach manually, bringing the ship through the atmosphere and on course for the Tower. I only had Elgan assist when we made our final approach and I had to transmat out of the ship.

When my feet touched down in the plaza, I was amazed at how subdued the place felt. Normally there were Guardians bustling about, visiting the Gunsmith or Cryptarch, or just being around each other after another successful mission. Today there was little life to be seen.

Remembering what Scott-20 had told me in the bunker, I made my way over to the post office. Sure enough, I had a package waiting for me, which I opened to discover a Spektar Kallipolis Plate. As it was just another reminder of everything that happened on Venus, I decided simply to store it away, doubting I would ever wear the armor now. Once it was gone, I selected an old set or armor for Elgan to retrieve and transmat to my room for me to put on later. First, I needed to see the Vanguard.

Eris was not at her normal spot. I wondered if maybe she had been infected as well. I could see any number of Guardians that would have been eager to pass it on to her and mess with her head. Lord Shaxx was at his usual post, but gave little acknowledgment of my passing. As for the Vanguard themselves, they were in their usual place, looking like they were carrying far more stress than normal.

“Welcome back, Guardian,” Zavala intoned. If there was disapproval or disappointment in his voice, I didn't hear it.

“Thank you, sir,” I replied.

“We received your Ghost's report of what happened on Venus,” the commander continued, “do you have anything to add?”

“Only that I request to be relieved of duty. I behaved in a manner not befitting of a Guardian and am not worthy to continue in the role.”

Ikora quirked up an eyebrow at that and Cayde-6 just shook his head. Zavala studied me for a several seconds, letting the silence linger following my statement. I shifted uncomfortably under the gaze of the powerful Awoken Titan. I generally did my best to avoid such scrutiny.

“Request denied,” he stated finally. “Guardians infected by this... transmission... were unable to control much of what they did while in its grasp. If we deactivated every Guardian who regretted what happened while under sway of this techno-virus, we would have no one left standing to defend this Tower. You survived. Learn and grow from what happened, Claney. We still need your Light.”

I nodded silently. It was basically the response I had expected.

“Is there anything else?” Zavala asked.

“No, sir,” I answered.

“Then you are dismissed. You may take a little time to recover, but the Fallen have been taking advantage of the situation by reinforcing several key points across the globe and pushing forward aggressively in others. We need you back to the fight as soon as possible. Dismissed.”

I turned sharply and strode out of the room. I made my way back to the plaza and crossed to the elevators. I took one down to the habitat levels, then located my quarters. The armor I had selected earlier was sitting on my bed waiting for me. Spektar Kallipolis Gauntlets and Greaves and Iron Companion Helm and Plate, Middaye shader applied to cast it all in black, green, and gold. A Kings' Mark I had earned in the Reef laying beside it. 

I strapped the armor on a piece at a time, pulling each strap slowly and deliberately. The act of girding myself for duty worked as surprisingly effective therapy, helping set my mind where it needed to be. I tapped the helm, letting Elgan know I wanted it stored away for now. I took a long look at myself in the mirror. I felt more like myself now, even if there was still something unfamiliar behind the eyes looking back at me. 

Turning away from the reflection, I sat on my couch and closed my eyes, breathing deeply. I tried to focus on the Light, feel the Void energy flowing. After having such a heightened feeling of it while under the sway of the nanites, my grasp of it felt tenuous now. I wanted to strengthen that. In the silence that followed, events of the last few days played through my mind and disrupted my focus. As part of that, a sudden realization of my own selfishness came to me in the quiet.

“Elgan,” I said aloud, opening my eyes again.

“Yes, Claney?” the Ghost asked as he materialized.

“Celeste, Scott, and Zillah. Any word of what happened to them?”

“Celeste, I am fully aware of,” was the exasperated response. “Whisper has been sending frequent messages from her. She seems very upset with you for your lack of response.”

“No surprise there.”

“As for the Warlocks,” he continued after a pause, “Scott-20 has been seen speaking with Executor Hideo and I believe he is here at the Tower. Zillah is a confirmed survivor, having contacted the Vanguard, but I have no information about her current whereabouts. Best guess would be a return to the Reef.”

“The Reef? Why would you say that?”

“No doubt you noticed her armor? I did a quick background check on both of our companions before leaving for Venus. Zillah was notable for having giving up her quarters here at the Tower and having taken up a permanent residence at the Reef, though she has received no formal recognition or acceptance from the Awoken. Very curious.”

Curious was an understatement. I'd never heard of a Guardian doing that before. It made the Queen's insignia on her datapad in the bunker seem more significant to me now. She had been looking for something. Maybe a way to prove herself to the Reefborn? What would drive her to do that?

Shaking off the thought, I rose from the couch. My mind found no peace, so sitting here longer would accomplish nothing. What I needed now was something new to focus on. I resolved to check the bounty board and return to the field. My door opened, and I made to step out into the hallway, but was blocked by another Guardian.

“There you are!” I heard a voice exclaim, then felt something smack hard across my face.

Celeste was in the corridor, angrier than I had ever seen her. She shook her right hand as if it stung and I realized she'd slapped me. She forced her way past me into my quarters.

“Hello to you too, Kiddo,” I said, rubbing my cheek. I closed the door and turned to face her.

“Don't 'kiddo' me,” she snapped. “Do you know how worried I was? First you didn't respond, then I get some generic message giving me the brush off, and then you just ignore me? I have half a mind to be the second Hunter to try to kill you this week.”

“I know. I'm sorry. I should have said something more, but...“I trailed off weakly. “I'm glad you're okay.”

“Hmph,” she snorted, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Don't take it personally, Kiddo. I was in no state to talk to anyone. Something happened while I was affected by the mites that left me in a dark place. I really don't want to discuss it right now. Maybe some day, but not anytime soon.”

“You aren't the only one, Old Man,” she said softly. “I really needed you.”

“I'm sorry I let you down,” the words just added to the shame I had already been feeling about the whole ordeal. ”I won't let it happen again.”

She looked at me and all at once I was no longer standing with a seasoned Guardian. Instead, I saw that young girl I'd found all those years ago, brought back into a world she did not understand. The feeling to protect her from the monsters in the woods was still as strong, though at this point in time I was the one causing the pain. For the first time in years, I put my arms around her, pulling her close and reaching a hand up to ruffle her unruly red hair.

“Really? I'm not a kid anymore,” she said in mock offense, returning the hug before pushing me away with a smile.

“I was about to head back up. Walk with me?”

“Well, I'm not going to stay here by myself. It smells. Seriously, when was the last time you cleaned this place?

“I happen to know you once spent two weeks lying in a swamp waiting for a Fallen transport, and you complain about the smell in here?”

“That just lets you know how desperately you need to clean,” she remarked as we strode toward the elevator.

We rode back up to the plaza in a comfortable silence. When the doors opened to let us out, we were in for a shock. Where the plaza had been subdued and nearly deserted before, it was now filling with excited chatter. We approached the gathering crowd curiously.

“What's going on?” Celeste asked me, glancing around.

“No clue,” I said, then turned to one of the civilians nearby. “What is this all about?”

“It's a new Iron Lord!” the woman stated excitedly. “The first one since Twilight Gap! Coming here under orders from Lord Saladin.” 

“They say,” chimed in another, “that it's the same Guardian who destroyed the Heart of the Black Garden and lead the fireteams that took down Crota and Oryx!”

“Wait, that's a real Guardian?” Celeste asked, bewildered. “No, seriously, that was one person?”

A new Iron Lord? Celeste and I joined the crowd, our eyes following pointing fingers as a ship approached rapidly. It swooped toward the tower and docked at the edge of the plaza. The familiar shimmer of a transmat appeared near it, and a figure took shape. I saw the banner in the newcomer's hand first, then the battered appearance of the Guardian's armor. Finally, I noticed his face and my jaw dropped.

“I know that guy,” I said.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

 

“What do you mean, 'I know that guy'?” Celeste asked, glancing from the newly arrived Guardian to cast me a skeptical glance. “You've always scoffed at the idea of there being one 'Super Guardian'.”

I watched as the Guardian, a Hunter, strode purposefully across the plaza, keeping his eyes locked forward. The crowd parted to let him pass, flowing around him like water. His armor was a make that I was unfamiliar with, covered with leather and fur, a golden shield crossed by hands holding a large ax emblazoned on his cloak. The metallic face, though, I had definitely seen before.

“Well, yeah,” I replied, “I always thought the idea of one Guardian accomplishing all that he supposedly has was ridiculous, but that Guardian right there I know. His name is Aasim-7. If I was making a list of who could fit the bill, he is one of the last I would have suspected, to be honest.”

“Why?”

“He's so young,” I said, which drew a sharp elbow in my side. “Not young like that. Young in terms of being a Guardian. He was only revived a couple years ago in Old Russia. I met him out on patrol shortly after, when he was newly in the field, and there was nothing remarkable about him. Kind of quiet, still learning to use his abilities at the time. We first worked together to stop a dangerous Captain from the House of Devils. I ran into him a few times after that in the Crucible, then eventually lost track of him. Guess now I know why, he's apparently been very busy.”

…

The sun was hanging low in the west and I had been patrolling the Cosmodrome near the Forgotten Shore for several hours. Amanda Holliday put out a call for salvage, and since I hadn't had a particular goal in mind, I decided to help. I could always use the glimmer and it usually paid to keep on the good side of Tower personnel. As usual, Elgan had been keeping me abreast of any goings on in the area such as notifying me if any Guardians came near or any other beacons came active. 

When a name I didn't recognize scrolled across my HUD, I noted it but didn't give it too much thought. After a long lull, there seemed to have been an uptick in new revivals at the time, and due to the thinness of our ranks the Vanguard had been authorizing them for field work faster than ever as well. I'd had Elgan listen a little closer for trouble, but it was no longer a reason to immediately drop whatever I was doing. 

I aimed down the sites of my rifle and pulled the trigger, knocking a Shank out of the air. Electricity sparked from the hole in its chassis and it spiraled into the ground. Elgan tagged the remains of the alien drone, then collected the samples Holliday was looking for. It was all fairly routine by that point. I wasn't sure what the shipwright hoped to gain from another batch of Shank parts, but the ships coming from the city foundries had been getting better, so there must have been something to it. 

Two more Shanks floated into view. I took the second one down as quickly as the first, but that alerted the third. It changed direction, firing a few shots at the piece of wreckage I was hidden behind. I ducked into cover for a moment then opened fire and took it down as well, though not as cleanly as the others. I had Elgan open a line to Holliday. 

“Got those Shank parts you were asking for. They'll be delivered when we arrive at the Tower.”

“Thanks, Guardian,” she said. “I've got to keep those ships in the air.”

“Wait, have ships been falling from the sky?” Elgan butted into the conversation.

“What? No! I just... uh, I've got work to do here,” was the reply and then the line disconnected.

“Didn't she just look at the Lost Days? Maybe we should take New Monarchy up on their requests for assistance. I hear they make some good ships,” the little Ghost rambled on. “I'll need to run some diagnostics when we get back up, check everything out before we try to leave. Maybe...”

I tuned out the rest of whatever he was going on about with a smile. Holliday did good work, the ship was fine. Probably. I was checking for another beacon when another call came through; a Guardian in need of assistance.

A high value target had been spotted in the area, a Fallen Captain named Varjis, Clever Headed; a known Guardian killer. He'd managed to stay out of sight of the many patrols looking for his head, but now he'd shown himself. The call for help came from the new Guardian who had apparently attempted to take Varjis by himself. I had Elgan bring out my sparrow and hopped on, rocketing in the direction of the signal.

As I rounded the rusted hulk of an old oil tanker, I saw the Hunter take several shots from Varjis' shrapnel launcher and stagger behind cover. There were several dead Fallen on the ground in the immediate vicinity. It was clear that the newbie had put up and good fight, and just as clear that he was not going to last much longer on his own. I pushed my sparrow as hard as it would go, aiming right for the Captain. He was so focused on the other Guardian that he didn't notice me until I was nearly on top of him. When he finally started to turn I leaped off the machine, sending it crashing into the Fallen and staggering him.

I hit the ground with a roll and came up firing. He was only off-balance for a moment before he oriented himself and took some shots at me. I jumped up, using Lift to rapidly put some distance between us. As my feet left the ground, I called on the Void to form a magnetic grenade and hurled it at him. Varjis' raised one of his shrapnel launchers and the grenade stuck to it, exploding twice and causing him to stumble again, the energy shield covering his form flicking and falling away. Landing, I opened fire again and the Captain teleported away from me.

“You alright?” I shouted to the other Guardian, trying to track the Fallen as he teleported again.

“I'll live,” he replied flatly.

“Good, because I'm going to need a hand here.”

A skiff was approaching rapidly, likely called in by Varjis to provide him some backup. Its forward guns turned to lock on our location. I brought my arms in and then flung them outward, forming a Ward of Dawn to shield us from the ship's plasma cannons. Arc energy pounded against my defenses and the Void shell flickered, but held.

“We could use some firepower here,” I commented, which brought a nod from the other Guardian.

The back end of the Skiff opened up, and two rows of Fallen troops emerged; Dregs and Vandals with one Servitor in tow. After a few moments, I heard the familiar sound of a Gunslinger igniting their Golden Gun, and glanced over to see the Hunter's hands and weapon sheathed in flame. He seemed to stare at his hands for a moment, then darted out from inside the Ward and fired three shots in quick succession. Each shot found its mark, two Vandals tumbling to the earth and the Servitor exploding, raining down shrapnel.

The other Fallen hit the ground, shouting in rage as they opened fire. Rounds bounced off my Ward and it flickered again, close to failing. Varjis chose that moment to make his presence known again. While we had been preoccupied by the Skiff, his shields had recharged and he had teleported around behind us. He charged silently in from the rear, shock blades at the ready. 

I noted the movement on my HUD's motion tracker and turned to meet the charge. The other Guardian turned with me. We both dodged the swipe of Varjis' double blades and delivered our own blows. My right hand let go of my rifle and I punched him hard in the face. The Hunter unsheathed a knife from somewhere with his free hand and swiped across the Fallen Captain's midsection. The Captain stumbled, then lashed out with all four arms, knocked both of us back. Just then, my Ward collapsed, and the other Fallen closed in, not firing for fear of hitting their own Captain.

I managed to keep my footing and brought my gun to bear, snapping shots at the incoming aliens, striking two, one of which I caught in the head, a puff of ether emerging as the Dreg fell dead. The Hunter had rolled and ended up on one knee, taking a two handed grip on his hand cannon and taking aim at the Captain. Varjis roared as rounds peppered his shields. Snapping my rifle to the left, I opened fire at his exposed back. He turned toward me, and the Hunter took advantage. He pulled out a knife and threw it, striking the Fallen Captain just below the back of his helmet, the blade sinking into the back of his neck.

Varjis bleated in surprise and fell to his knees, dropping his shock blades. His four arms all reached back feebly as if trying to extract the blade, then he flopped forward. The death of their Captain stunned the other two Dregs, and a couple quick shots finished them off as well.

Gun at the ready, I surveyed the area around, making sure there were no remaining threats. Certain we were clear, I placed the gun on my back and turned to the other Guardian. He had stepped over to Varjis' corpse. He hesitated, seemingly uncertain, then bent down and pulled his knife out of the alien's neck. He wiped the blade clean on the Fallen's temper cloth, then sheathed it. I strode next to him and then put a boot to the corpse, flipping it over. Elgan scanned it to verify that he was dead.

“I will notify the Vanguard of Varjis' death,” the Ghost stated. “They should be most relieved to know that he is no longer lurking about.”

“Thanks, Elgan,” I told the Ghost, then turned to the other Guardian and held out a hand. “Hey. I'm Claney. Nice work with the Golden Gun and knife.”

“Thanks,” he responded, shaking my offered hand. “Aasim-7.”

Aasim held out a hand and his Ghost emerged. The conferred silently for a moment, then the Hunter gave a brief nod in my direction before his sparrow materialized. He hopped on and gunned the engine, zipping away without another word.

“I wonder what signal they were looking into,” Elgan mused as he drifted back to my side.

“Signal? How do you know they were looking into a signal?”

“Oh, I overheard the other Ghost,” he replied nonchalantly.

“Eavesdropping again?” I asked with a chuckle. “Nobody likes a nosy Ghost.”

“Well that's simply not true,” Elgan stated and then integrated himself back into my armor.

…

Aasim disappeared from view as he headed down to the Hall of Guardians. The crowd lingered for a few moments, then dispersed with different groups joining in animated conversations. I stood watching the stairwell, lost in thought.

“This doesn't make sense,” I muttered to myself.

“What doesn't?” Celeste asked.

“This,” I motioned vaguely around us. “This announced entrance. Look, there have been claims that one Guardian found Rasputin, stopped the Heart, lead the Crota and Oryx teams, breached the Dreadnaught, and anything else that had been attributed to him, yet it was mostly rumor. Why? The Guardian responsible didn't take much credit. So why show up like this and draw attention now?”

“That is an excellent question. Maybe he got tired of no one knowing? Or maybe it wasn't his call and someone else pushed for this?” Celeste tossed out ideas.

“Maybe it's time to take a page from Elgan's playbook and eavesdrop on someone's conversation and then renew an old acquaintance.” With that, I headed down to the Hall of Guardians as well.

“Ooh, I love snooping,” she replied and fell in behind me.

Eris was busy with some project of hers. There are times I would swear that woman is a Warlock rather than a Hunter. I doubted she had even noticed the arrival. Lord Shaxx, on the other hand, had clearly taken an interest. He was out from behind his usual counter and openly staring in the direction of the Vanguard, though he did not speak a word. The only sound was Cayde-6's voice echoing down the hall, carrying a jovial tone. I couldn't make out what he was saying at first, but the words became clear as we drew close.

“... taught him everything he knows, of course. It's why he was such a success story.” The Hunter Vanguard was standing at the end of the table with his back to the entrance, arm draped about Aasim's shoulders.

“Yes, Cayde,” Ikora retorted wryly, “I'm sure it was all your doing. Welcome back, Guardian. It has been a while since you have darkened our door.”

“Yes. I apologize. Things have been hectic,” Aasim replied.

“Hectic? That's the understatement of the century,” Elgan quipped, hovering over my shoulder.

“What are you doing?” I whispered.

“You're spying on people, of course I'm going to join in,” the Ghost said, which got an eye-roll out of me.

“Well, whatever the case may be,” Zavala intoned, “we gladly welcome you back. Though, it seems you have yet more news of great import to share with us.”

“Right? Always something major. You know, you could just stop by for a simple hello one of these days,” Cayde snarked.

“Yes,” Aasim replied, shuffling his feet. “I come with news from Lord Saladin. The Iron Temple at Felwinter Peak is now open to any Guardian who would make the journey. A great evil of the past has come to light once again, and Lord Saladin is asking for help in keeping it at bay.”

“Yes, I read Shiro's report,” Cayde stated. “SIVA. Sounds like nasty stuff. I wonder if it has any relation to those other techno-viruses we just dealt with.”

“Quite probably. The similarities in transmission tactics being pure coincidence would be highly unlikely,” remarked Ikora.

“Lord Saladin believes so as well. Also,” the Hunter continued, “after a long hiatus, Lord Saladin has opened the ranks of the Iron Lords again to those he deems worthy. I am the first. As such, I bring this as a token.”

Aasim gestured with the banner he'd been carrying. Stepping around the table, he handed it to Zavala with a slight bow. Zavala accepted and returned the bow. He opened the banner and stared at it for a time before rolling it back up and setting it carefully on the table. Behind me, Lord Shaxx made an unintelligible sound at that. I was aware of the history the two men shared with Lord Saladin and wondered how this would play in their rivalry.

“This is quite an honor, Lord Aasim,” Zavala said, “one Lord Saladin would not bestow lightly. You have more than earned it with everything you have done for us.”

“When you get back to the Iron Temple,” Cayde chimed in, “tell Shiro he doesn't get to join up. I need his scouting reports too much. He can play Iron Lord for a while longer if he wants, but eventually I expect him to get back to work.”

Sensing that the meeting may be coming to an end, and not wanting to get caught snooping, I chose to retreat over to Arcite 99-40 and pretend to shop. It quickly became an actual shopping trip as I saw that he had a whole host of new weapons for sale. A new shotgun, the 44 Curtain Call caught my eye, and I spent a few marks that I'd been saving up. Elgan transmatted my reliable old Burden of Proof into storage and I placed the new weapon on my back. The orange and blue color scheme might be a bit garish, but the specs looked quite promising. I had just finished up with Arcite when Aasim exited the Vanguard meeting room. He noticed me and paused.

“Claney?”

“Hello, Aasim. Or Lord Aasim-7, now,” I said with a smile, holding out my hand in greeting. “It's been a while.”

“Yes, it has,” he responded, shaking the offered hand.

“Allow me to introduce you to Celeste. She's my... uhm... sidekick?”

“Hey!” came the indignant response, bringing a brief flash of Exo amusement to face of the Iron Lord.

“Greetings, Hunter,” he said with a nod. Celeste just glared daggers at me.

“So,” I began, “I couldn't help but overhear a little bit of your conversation with the Vanguard. I would be very interested in hearing the story of how you started working with Lord Saladin.”

“I have a little bit of time before I have to head back to the Temple,” came the reply. “This might actually be beneficial to both of us.”

“How about we head over to the hangar bar,” I offered. “We can have some refreshments and you can tell us about it.”

So the three of us made our way through the courtyard and headed left, passing the Vanguard Quartermaster and the Dead Orbit representatives. Everyone we passed gawked at Aasim, who didn't seem completely comfortable with all the attention. As we passed underneath, I couldn't help but cast a glance up toward the meeting rooms of the Future War Cult and caught a glimpse of Lakshmi watching us intently.

Once in the bar, we settled into a booth in the back. For the most part, the bar was empty. A couple off-duty Guardians hung near the jukebox dancing and a few other people were seated at a table across the room. Aasim then told of us everything that had happened recently. He had managed to avoid being affected by the nanites that had been wreaking havoc with Guardian ranks. 

Being one of the few stable Guardians available in the field, he had responded to a report about some Fallen attacking an old observatory. Once he had climbed the mountain, he discovered that it was actually the Iron Temple. He fended off a host of Fallen, including an apparently rebuilt Sepiks Prime, and that was when Lord Saladin tapped him for a specific purpose. Stopping SIVA.

Since then, it had been, to borrow his words, a hectic time. He had traced the release of SIVA to a Clovis Bray facility on Mars. He'd chased Splicers from the House of Devils who had been upgrading themselves with the Golden Age technology all through a previously sealed off area known as the Plaguelands. He'd fought the resurrected remains of SIVA corrupted Iron Lords.

“I'm now on the trial of Sepiks, who the Devil Splicers revived and upgraded with SIVA. Sepiks Perfected, so to speak. When I find him, I will need a few Guardians to help me bring him down permanently. It's convenient then, that I ran into you when I did. When the time comes, can I count on you?”

“Without a doubt,” I replied. “Call on me and I will be there.”

“Me too,” Celeste said.

“I am curious,” I continued, “why you wouldn't just call on one of your previous fireteams, though. The crews that killed Crota and Oryx should be able to handle a rebuilt servitor.”

“This is true. I prefer not to work with a permanent team, however, and many of them have moved on. I might not have sought out the spotlight, but others used those successes to propel themselves into leadership positions for their own squads.”

I nodded at that. It had been a while since I had been in a permanent team myself. Things tended to get too complicated. Silence descended then as we considered everything he had told us. Never able to stand silences for long, Celeste excused herself.

“Think I'm going to join those two at the jukebox and make a fool of myself for a second,” she said before slipping away from the booth.

“I should probably be going as well,” Aasim said after another moment. “There is much work to be done. Come to the Iron Temple when you can. See the Plaguelands and you will see the threat SIVA holds. I would advise doing it quickly so that you will know what you face in Sepiks Prime. You may rethink your willingness to help. Or,” casting a glance toward Celeste, “your willingness to allow others to. Good day, Claney.”

“Farewell, Lord Aasim. Traveler's Light go with you.”

I watched him leave, then turned my gaze to Celeste. She was laughing at something one of the dancing Guardians had said. Lord Aasim seemed to think she might not be ready for whatever would face us with these Devil Splicers, but I believed he underestimated her. Most people did because of her youth, but the unusual circumstances of her resurrection and training meant that she could handle more than many Guardians who had much greater experience.

I was preparing to leave when Elgan chirped at me and then materialized over the table.

“Comes to gossip now that he has left, Ghost?” I asked teasingly.

“No. I mean, I'd love to, but no. I have a hit on Jaeger.”

“Tell me,” I said, instantly serious.

“A ships bearing Future War Cult markings recently docked at the Reef, piloted by a Hunter matching his description.”

“Well then, let's head to the Reef.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here we have “The Guardian”, the chosen Super Guardian who has apparently done what every other Guardian had been unable to seemingly for decades, the character that represents the player in-game. I have been very intentional about not having Claney, or any of my other characters, be the Guardian that was involved in any of the main game storyline. As much as I would like to give him, or the others, that level of import, I feel it better if they stay on the periphery. However, to get where I needed to go, I felt the need to bring in this character. 
> 
> For the curious: I opted to make him a Hunter because of Cayde's interest in the player, particularly recruiting you to board the Dreadnaught. Why would the Hunter Vanguard pick any other class? I went with Exo because I had read a discussion a while back about the game storyline in which someone stated that originally there were supposed to be different openings depending on what race you chose, but when the storyline was scrapped at the last minute they only kept what would have been the Exo opening. (Which helps the explain weirdness of an Awoken waking up on a deserted highway in Old Russia... they were never supposed to.) As for the name, it's an African name that means Protector Guardian.
> 
> Varjis, Clever Headed is a Fallen Captain from the House of Devils mentioned by Variks. He has never appeared to my knowledge, though is thought to be in the Prison of Elders. I decided to make use of him for my own purposes.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

“Are you sure racing off like that is the best idea?” Elgan asked. “What do intend to do, exactly?”

“I don't know 'exactly',” I replied. “I'll figure it out when I get there. Let me worry about that; you just get the clearance and make sure the ship is ready to go. I'll tell Celeste.”

He blinked at me and did a pretty fair imitation of an eye roll before disappearing. I paid for the drinks, silencing a mental grumble when I realized that Aasim-7 had left without paying. I guess when you save the entire human race a couple times, you expect not to have to pay for things anymore. Dibs on the next Earth-shaking monstrosity.

I briefly considered just going and not dragging Celeste into it, but I didn't feel like getting slapped again anytime soon. Not wanting to compete with the music or share anything with the dancers, I tapped her on the shoulder and motioned an exit before heading toward the door. Behind me, I heard her tell the other two she was leaving, which was met with sounds of disappointment. She caught up quickly and we left the bar behind. Entering the hangar area, I cast a glance at the Future War Cult meeting room, but saw no sign of Lakshmi this time.

“Sooo... where we goin'?” Celeste asked. “The Iron Temple?”

“Not yet. Elgan got a hit on that Hunter that took a shot at me; he showed up in the Reef. I'm heading that way. I figured if I left you in the dark, you'd just track me down and smack me again.”

“You're probably right,” she responded, “though I might just hit you anyway. What are you thinking?”

“Not loving the lack of faith everyone is giving me right now,” I muttered. “I'm just going to have a conversation with him.”

“Titans tend to use 'conversation' as a euphemism for punching people,” she retorted.

“I'm not going to punch him,” I told her, which earned a skeptical look in response. “Probably. Can you imagine the blow-back from the Awoken if two Guardians decided to throw down on their turf? Now, are you coming along, or not?”

“Yes,” she said, “I'll go. Someone has to keep you out of trouble.”

I shook my head and gave an exasperated sigh.

“The Invictus is prepped and ready,” Elgan chimed in as he materialized over my shoulder. “I want to formally verbalize my objection to this excursion.”

“Noted,” I told him. “And the five dollar words don't suit you.”

“I just wanted you to know how serious I was,” the Ghost replied. “Plus, I'm a highly advanced construct. You don't know my verbal capabilities.”

I opened my mouth to reply, but closed it again. An argument with him would solved nothing right now. I accepted a datapad from one of the dock workers, checking the status of the ship, then handed it back. Everything looked good. Celeste opted to ride with me, so Elgan transmatted both of us aboard. I guided the ship out of the hangar slowly, pulling away from the Tower. I plotted a course and we set off to the home of the Awoken.

Once in orbit, the NLS drive kicked in, and I settled in for the time it would take to travel to the Reef. I couldn't shake the little bit of doubt that had crept into my mind thanks to Celeste and Elgan. What was I going to do exactly? Ask why he felt the gear was worth shooting another Guardian for? Ask what the War Cult was planning to do with it? I doubt he would answer either question. Zavala said the Vanguard would deal with the War Cult, and I believed him. I just hated the idea of not responding in some way. And maybe I did like punching things that shot at me, so Celeste might have a fair concern.

Lost in thought, I barely noticed the passage of time and was slightly surprised when it was time to drop back to relative speeds. Cutting off the NLS drive, I was greeted by the hulks of the Golden Age relics that made up most of the territory of the Awoken. I had only come out this way a few times and was always struck by the grandeur of the ships that had been destroyed here. So many people fleeing the Darkness during the collapse had found their end out in this place. 

Guardians might be more welcome at the Reef than they were in the past, but there were still limitations to what the Awoken allowed. One docking bay at the Vestian Outpost, for instance. I guided the ship toward the single entry point, letting Elgan take over and finish bringing it in once Celeste and I transmatted down to the landing. 

The general atmosphere was much more somber than it had been my last visit. Of course, that was before Oryx arrived. Before they lost their queen. Life goes on, and the Awoken were still moving forward, but the wound was still fresh.

“Any new information on the whereabouts of our friend?” I asked Elgan.

“Nothing new to report. His ship is still docked though, so he is here somewhere.”

Not very helpful. He could be just about anywhere. The best place to start would be the two most obvious possibilities, The Prison of Elders and the Trials of Osiris. The Trials would be easy to look into. They were broadcast alongside other Crucible matches so I would be able to find a listing of participants. For the Prison, I would have to speak with Variks, the Loyal.

I found a public terminal, and checked the Trials docket. I saw a few familiar names, but no mention of Jaeger. Disappointing. That would have been the easiest way to deal with the situation, arranging a meeting where a violent confrontation would have been expected. Of course, that would also have required me to have a third person along with us.

That thought reminded me that Elgan had said Zillah was here at the Reef. I resolved to check in on her before leaving. Now, however, I had a Fallen scribe to talk to. If anything that happened in the Prison was made available for public consumption, I was unaware of it. Variks would be the only one who knew what was going on in his domain.

I made my way to where the Fallen operated. I knew a number of Guardians who were fond of the scribe, but I had yet to get overly comfortable with the alien. He had proved his loyalty to the queen time and again so I had no reason to question him, but I was still uneasy dealing with him. Simple prejudice perhaps, but every other creature I had seen that looked like him had tried to kill me. Even succeeded, temporarily, a time or two. Variks turned to look at me as I approached. He cocked his head, his four eyes narrowed, and made an odd chittering sound.

“Come closer, Guardian,” he said. “Your scent is... curious. You are troubled, yes? Perhaps I can help.”

“Yes, I hope so,” I replied. “I'm looking for a Guardian.”

”Lots of Guardians here,” Variks replied. “You yourself, for example. Specifics would be required.”

“Right. This Guardian is a Hunter name Jaeger-10.” I held out my hand and Elgan appeared. He projected an image of the Hunter for Variks to see. “I was wondering if he was currently fighting in the Prison.”

“Jaeger-10?” Variks repeated the name back slowly, then adjusted his stance, leaning in to look at the picture. “I do not know the name. This Guardian I have seen, but he has not come looking for the Prison of Elders.”

Variks eyes drifted from the picture of Jaeger over to Elgan. The Fallen's mechanical upper arms moved as if he was considering reaching out to the Ghost, then thought better of it. He straightened back up and took hold of his staff with all four hands. I tried not to feel too disappointed that the obvious leads had not panned out.

“Thank you, Variks,” I said, then turned away, with Elgan taking position over my shoulder.

“I am Variks of House Judgment,” the Fallen said to my back. “You have a disagreement with this other Guardian, yes? I can help mediate. See how I help you, Titan.”

I stopped and cast a glance back over my shoulder, considering the scribe's words.

“I'll keep that in mind, Variks.”

Two strikes. With no real certainty of how to proceed, I contemplated my next move. Wandering around aimlessly would get me nothing but frustration. Celeste had disappeared somewhere among the Awoken and Guardians who made their way in the marketplace-like setting of the dock. I could not afford to let the Hunter slip away, but I was going to have to be patient.

“Elgan,” I said to the Ghost, “I want you to stay out here. Keep an eye out for Jaeger and call me if you so much as think you catch a glimpse of his shadow.”

“And what will you be doing while I am lowering myself to the level of security camera?” Elgan asked.

“I'm going to check in on Zillah. Do you know where I can find her?”

“Checking,” the Ghost said and went silent for a moment. “Found her. She has a room in a Guardian accessible area. Put on your helmet and I'll mark it on your HUD.”

I stuck out my hand and he transmatted my helmet into it. Gripping the helmet, I put it over my head. Seconds later, the familiar destination marker appeared in my view.

“Thanks, Elgan. See you soon.”

I followed the marker through the dock area, then entered into a corridor. Not counting the Prison, this was the furthest I had ventured into the outpost. I was grateful for the navigational capabilities of the Ghost, otherwise I would probably find myself hopelessly lost wandering through near identical hallways.

I rounded a corner, and the marker finally came to rest on a door. Zillah's home here on the Reef. I'd been so caught up in everything that had been happening that I had not taken the time to give a second thought to Elgan telling me she lived out here. I knew plenty of Guardians who spent a lot of time here, but none that had taken up residence. For the first time I wondered what would have driven her to take such a step.

I had been forced to change my armor since last seeing her, so I removed my helmet again. No telling how she might react to an unknown Guardian showing up at her door. Then again, I doubted I was exactly her favorite person. She might not react to my face any better than a stranger's. Only one way to find out.

Tucking my helmet under my arm, I knocked on the door with my free hand. The metal on metal sound of my armored fist rapping against the door echoed down the empty corridor. I shuffled uncomfortably from one foot to the other and waited. After several seconds with no response, I began to wonder if she was in. I took a step back and considered turning away, when the door finally opened.

Zillah stood in the doorway blinking sleepily. She wore casual clothes, and her hair was still pulled up in the same type of messy bun that it had been on Venus. Her amber eyes seemed to take a moment to focus, then recognition flashed through them. I was not sure precisely what I thought was going to happen, but I was still caught off guard by her reaction.

She stepped aside and motioned me in.

I stepped through the threshold and took in my surroundings. The first room was set up as a living room, though very sparsely decorated. There were no photos or decorative pictures to be seen. Unsurprisingly, there were several bookshelves, all heavily burdened. A simple couch and table were placed to one side of the room. There were two openings that led to other rooms, but I could not see into them from my vantage point.

The room itself was a mess. There were papers scattered around the room. Many of the books on those shelves were shoved in haphazardly. There were a number of empty bottles near the couch that I assumed to be some sort of alcoholic beverage based on the smell, and dirty dishes were on the table. The spartan decor was not a surprise, but the mess was.

Without speaking a word, Zillah sat on one end of the couch and gestured toward the seat on the other side. I strode across the room and took the proffered seat and placed my helmet on a clean spot on the coffee table. The couch groaned under the weight of my armor, but we sat quietly. Zillah barely even looked in my direction, mostly staring off at an indistinct point in front of her. Finally, she broke the silence.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, her voice little more than a whisper.

“I came to see how you were doing,” I replied, which caused her to snap her gaze to me.

“Liar,” she spat.

“Excuse me?”

“You did not travel all the way to the Reef just to check on me,” she said. “No one would do that. So I repeat the question, what are you doing here?”

“You're right,” I said, measuring my words carefully, “that is not the only reason I came all the way out here. But it is why I came to your door, no ulterior motive.”

She seemed to accept that answer after mulling it over.

“Fair enough,” she said finally. “Well, I'm doing just peachy, as you can clearly see.”

“Yes, it looks like it. What's going on?”

“You have to ask?” she questioned. “You were there in that Hunter hole too. I know you were infected.”

“Yes,” I stated with a wince.

“Then you know what it felt like, having your mind invaded like that.” She turned to me then, amber colored eyes locking onto mine, more raw emotion behind them than I seen in the short time I had known her. “But you might not really understand. I am a Warlock. My mind is my sanctuary. To have it laid bare and toyed with by some unthinking machine was unendurable.

“As devastating as that is,” she continued, “that it was such a violation is only the half of it. I have already been struggling with my control, my connection to the Light. Recently, I have had to work to strengthen my mental capabilities and focus. This... thing, this transmission, stripped away every piece of control I have fought to build. It made me feel weaker than I have felt since first being reborn. Can you grasp that, Titan?”

“I won't pretend to totally know your feelings,” I replied after a pause, “but I can understand some. I'm sorry I failed you so completely.”

“What do you mean by that?” she asked, seemingly surprised by the response.

“You and Scott-20... well, mostly Scott, brought me along to provide protection for the expedition. We all ended up infected and scattered to the winds.”

“Don't be ridiculous,” she said. “You couldn't have known about that. No one did.”

“Yes, and that includes you,” I replied. “You could not have prepared yourself for that type of attack either, so quit beating yourself up about not being strong enough to block it out.”

She seemed taken aback by that.

“Maybe,” she responded, turning her eyes away from me again.

“Now it's my turn,” I said. “Why are you here?”

“This is my home.”

“Don't be pedantic,” I replied. “Tough for a Warlock, I know. Why are you at the outpost? Why are you living out here?”

“It's a long story,” she said with a sigh. “It's just... It's where I feel I need to be. Or, I should say, it felt like it. Now? Now I don't know if I belong anywhere.”

“Does this have anything to do with what you were working on when we were on Venus, in that 'Hunter hole' as you put it?”

She nodded and closed her eyes, reclining fully against the back of the couch. At first I thought that was the end of it. She had already revealed more personal information than I had suspected she ever would.

“I was looking for the Queen,” she said quietly. “I thought I had a lead, that I could find evidence about what had happened to her with the Taken there, but it was a dead end. Finding out what happened to her was my one chance to be...” She trailed off and put her hands over her face.

“Accepted,” I finished.

She nodded again and rose to her feet. She stepped across the room, standing with her back to me for several seconds before turning around. When she did, her barriers were back up. She wore the same face, the same mask, she wore when I first saw her. Distant and cold.

“I'd like to be alone now,” she said. “Thank you for stopping by.”

I stood, picking my helm up off the table and tucking it under my arm. We looked at each other for a moment, then I strode toward the door. I stopped halfway through the open door and cast a glance back over my shoulder.

“We'll be here for a little while,” I said. “You know where you can find us.”

She did not respond. I fully exited the apartment, and the door closed silently behind me. After a brief hesitation, I turned to head back to the dock. As I walked through a t-shaped intersection in the corridor, I caught a flash of movement out of my peripheral vision. Before I could respond, something crashed into me and slammed me against the wall. The collision knocked the wind out of me and my head banged against the wall, causing me to see stars. Before I could recover, I felt the blade of a knife press against my throat.

“I knew if I hung around here long enough you would show up,” a familiar voice hissed.

My eyes finally cleared and I saw the face of Jaeger-10. His metallic features were clinched tight. The knife was held in his right hand in a reverse grip, emerging from the bottom of his fist so that a simple flick of the wrist could slip my throat. What he said finally registered and I felt a moment of confusion. I thought I had been the one searching for him.

“What are you talking about,” I choked.

“I lost track of you on Venus, after you were infected,” he said. “I couldn't find you, but I knew if I watched one of your friends, you would come eventually. I thought about targeting the pretty little Hunter, but she had disappeared as well. The Warlock was sufficient, as luck would have it.”

The thought that he would Celeste as some sort of bait sent a flare of anger through me. I brought my arms up quickly and jabbed the palms of both hands into his chest, sending him backward. He was caught off guard by the sudden movement and was late in trying to swipe his knife. The Hunter dropped into a crouch, his eyes narrowing.

“Seems I touched a nerve,” he stated.

“Stay away from her,” I said, fists clinched. “Whatever problem you seem to have with me, settle it with me alone.”

He laughed at that, an odd wry sound that completely caught me off guard.

“You have no idea,” he said. “Of course, I didn't that first time I saw you on the moon, either. Pure happenstance. If I would have realized then, I would have put a bullet through your Ghost.”

He shift his weight on the balls of his feet, and I could sense that he was preparing to leap. I readied to meet whatever he threw at me, Void energy charging in my hand. He sprung and I swung at where I assumed he was going. He twisted in mid-air to avoid the punch, slashing out with his knife, avoiding the metal plates and slicing into the thinner layer beneath the armor. I brought my arm back around, attempting to backhand him, but he ducked the blow and darted backward.

He waved the knife back and forth with a grin, his arm moving like a cobra prepared to strike. Suddenly, he flipped the knife over and his hand flashed outward. I was barely able to get my arm up, gauntlet deflecting the blade as it flew toward me. A second knife appeared in his hand as the first struck the ground.

Just then, two Awoken came around a bend in the corridor. They froze when they saw us. The knife Jaeger had been holding suddenly disappeared somewhere in his armor and he stood straight before giving them a small bow.

“I should have known that this would not be the end,” he whispered loud enough for me to hear. “We are fated to meet elsewhere, you and I. No matter what I do, it seems I cannot change that.”

With that, he gave the same salute he gave on the moon and vanished in the familiar shimmer of a transmat. I picked my helmet up off the ground and quickly left the two Awoken behind. I managed to find my way back to the dock with only one minor wrong turn. As flustered as I was from the encounter, I counted that as a minor miracle. Elgan flitted over to me as soon as he saw me emerge. 

“Jaeger's ship just headed out of the hangar,” the Ghost told me. “I never saw him out here beforehand.”

“That's because he wasn't out here,” I replied. “He was busy attacking me in the hallway. He trasmatted out from there.”

“He attacked you?” Elgan asked, shell twisting in consternation.

“Yeah. I'm fine, thanks to an unexpected audience arriving. He made some odd comments about fate and then took off. Any sign of Celeste?”

“I have not seen her since before you left to visit Zillah,” he said. “I have heard no sounds of alarm, so I assume she is doing a better job of staying out of trouble than you were. Please tell me you are done chasing this Hunter.”

“Apparently I don't need to,” I responded, rubbing the back of my head where it struck the wall. “He seems to be following me. Plus, we're destined to meet at some point, according to his ramblings.”

“Good,” the Ghost said. “Let the crazy Hunter take all the risks. So, what do we do now?”

“We could visit the Iron Temple,” I answered. “I would imagine it is an amazing sight.”

“Seconded,” Celeste's voice chimed in as she was suddenly standing next to us.

“I am getting so very tired of you Hunters' habit of just appearing out of thin air,” I muttered under my breath.

“The Iron Temple?” a third voice spoke up.

I turned to see Zillah standing at the same entry to the dock I had passed through minutes before. She was geared up, having changed from the leisure wear she had on earlier. The iciness in her eyes replaced with the spark of curiosity. A Warlock with an unknown to seek after. I smiled in spite of myself at seeing her.

“Yes,” I said. “Apparently while we were on Venus and then out of our minds, Saladin named a new Iron Lord and reopened the Temple for Guardians. Care to take a look.”

“Absolutely,” she responded with a nod. “Lead the way.”

Feivel appeared over her hand, and she disappeared. I nodded to Elgan, and he transmatted Celeste and I back aboard the Invictus. Once we had clearance from the Awoken, we plotted our course back to Earth.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

 

“We need to make a quick stop at the Tower to pick up Celeste's ship,” I told Zillah over ship-to-ship communications. Then to myself, “And a quick armor swap might be called for as well. I show up to the Iron Temple in this, I'm going to look like an Iron Lords groupie.”

“But you are,” Celeste teased.

“I admit to having a strong admiration for who they were and what they did,” I replied, “and the wolf iconography appeals to me, obviously. I, however, am not a 'groupie'.”

Celeste did not offer a reply to that, but I could imagine the grin she was probably wearing. It was true that I had been enthralled by stories of the Iron Lords and Iron Wolves when I first heard about them. Seeing them in person a long time ago had left a strong impression as well. I also competed in every Iron Banner and kept every weapon or piece of armor I earned. The fact that my personal emblem also incorporated a wolf was pure coincidence, however. I had chosen it before I knew anything about them. I shook my head and changed the subject. 

I filled Zillah in on everything that we had discussed with Aasim-7. Reluctantly, I also let them both know about what had happened with Jaeger-10 after I left Zillah's quarters. This was the first time she had heard anything about it, so I had to give a quick run down of my previous encounter with the Hunter.

“So this Hunter is stalking you now?” Zillah asked.

“So it seems,” I responded, brow furrowed. “I had actually had Elgan watching for any signs of him as well, trying to track him down. It's why I went out to the Reef; he'd docked at the Vestian Outpost.”

“So stupid,” I heard Celeste mutter behind me, but I ignored it.

“Now, initially, he attacked me unprovoked,” I continued, “so I know why I would want to hash things out with him. What I can't figure out is why he would be after me.”

“Perhaps it is as simple as vengeance,” Zillah replied. “It sounds like you got the better of him in the end on the Moon, recovering the most important relics. Hunters tend to be prideful, maybe he couldn't handle being outplayed by a Titan.”

“Hunters are prideful?” Celeste coughed out, sounding like she had taking in a breath and choked on her own saliva. “Have you actually met yourself or other Warlocks?”

“Maybe,” I said, mulling it over. “That doesn't explain what he was saying about fate, though.”

“Insanity runs through the Hunter ranks as well,” Zillah stated dryly. “I think it is the primary aspect their Ghosts look for when choosing a candidate for revival.”

Celeste made an unintelligible sound behind me, and I had to fight a smile. Zillah certainly seemed to be back to her old self, for better or worse. Elgan chimed in to let me know we were getting close. We dropped back to relative speeds and plotted course for the Tower. 

Zillah chose not to approach the Tower. I brought the Invictus close, but did not dock either. Celeste transmatted straight over to her ship and I had Elgan bring my new gear aboard. I changed out of the Iron Companion chest and helm in favor of a basic Spektar set. I briefly considered actually using the Kaliopolis gear, but felt showing up looking like a walking billboard for the New Monarchy wasn't much better. Once everyone was situated, the three of us rendezvoused and set course for Felwinter Peak.

On approach, the Iron Temple was impressive. It was even more so standing in the courtyard. Snow covered the mountaintop and three large, open flames were placed in the clearing. The Temple itself was carved into the mountain face, standing ancient and imposing. A bridge connected the two peaks, and an interesting looking structure was built on the other side though it seemed to not be in use at the moment. Wind whipped through ancient banners all around the grounds, causing the green, orange, and white strips to writhe like something alive.

Several Guardians were milling about; news of the Iron Temple being open had spread quickly. Some were coming in and out of the Temple, others meeting the bounty tracker that had set up base there. I marveled at how quickly that had happened. Seemed they were not going to waste opportunity. The next surprise was the face of the mountain. I could make out the forms of multiple Guardians attempting to climb the rocky face of the peak.

“I so want to do that,” Celeste said, eying the rocks.

“Like I said,” Zillah responded, eyes deliberately not looking at me or Celeste, “crazy is a common trait.”

The Warlock began walking forward, and Celeste glared at her. I made eye contact and shook my head, then tilted it in the direction of the Temple. Zillah had already begun climbing the stone stairway leading up to the Temple itself, and I fell in behind her.

The three of us made our way up to the entrance. I was shocked to see that Lord Saladin himself was standing near the doorway greeting Guardians as they approached. The ancient warrior had been a reclusive presence since Twilight Gap, only showing up for each Iron Banner event. Even then, he was distant in lording over the happenings, pun not intended. Seeing him now with his ornate helmet removed, being personable, wolves gathered near his feet, was somewhat surreal.

“You're staring,” Celeste jabbed. “If you start squealing I swear I'm going to find a new Guardian to 'side-kick' for.”

Zillah snorted a little at that. She must have overheard that part of the conversation earlier. I could have sworn I hit mute after saying Celeste needed her ship. I shot a glare at Celeste and made a point of stepping wide around the Guardians speaking with Saladin to head into the Temple. Little did I know the unexpected joy that was to come.

We passed beneath the portico, my eyes roving over the structure. Scoring from a recent battle was evident on the ancient architecture. It was likely from that battle with the Fallen and the rebuilt Sepiks that Aasim had told us about. The high, open door was engraved with the same armored fists holding an ax symbol I saw an Aasim's cloak and lead into a long hallway. A number of Guardians were gathered at the other end of it. They parted suddenly, and we caught a glimpse of a robed older-looking Awoken woman.

“By the Traveler,” Zillah gasped, her voice filled with awe “that is Tyra Karn! She was one of the founders of the Cryptarchy. At the risk of sounding cliché, she has probably forgotten more than I will ever know. Just imagine everything she has seen.” 

“Okay,” Celeste whispered to me, “you're off the hook. She's the groupie now.”

I chuckled, watching the Warlock. The look of open admiration on her face was priceless. Her pace quickened and she left us behind, pushing her way through the Guardians waiting to see the ancient Cryptarch. Celeste and I skirted past them, moving further into the Temple. We rounded a large column and entered the next room. It was a shrine, and was a sight to behold.

A large flame stood in the center of the circular room flanked by statues of wolves in motion. A relief of the Ironwood Tree dominated the far wall. Circling the room were massive statues wearing various styles of armor, all holding a large sword or ax. At the foot of each stood an unlit brazier. The first Iron Lords, standing in eternal vigil. 

I made my way slowly around the room, reading the name at the base of each statue. Jolder. Silimar. Radegast. Gheleon. Perun. Felwinter. Skorri. Timur. I paused, double checking the count. What about Efrideet? There was nothing for Lord Saladin either. That would seem to imply that he had them built after the others had passed, but that did not explain Efrideet's absence. It seemed impossible that Saladin would just forget one of his own.

A riddle for another day.

I took some time to breathe in the atmosphere of the room. There were doorways on either side of the room between the statues. I stepped through to see where they lead. The short path circled behind the wall where the Tree stood, and the wall was lined with large bells. We re-entered the room where the statues stood, the path having been a loop. We turned back toward the entrance, making our way back out of the Temple.. 

There was still a crowd near Tyra Karn, though I could not spot Zillah among the gathered Guardians. She was either lost in the shuffle or had moved on. We would find her before moving on. Emerging into the open air, I was mildly disappointed to see that Lord Saladin was no longer near the doorway. It figured that the last original Iron Lord had more important things to do than stand around all day. Celeste tapped me on the shoulder.

“Remember when we were totally not snooping on the Vanguard? Cayde mentioned one of his scouts being here. That's him over there,” she pointed to a figure in a yellow cloak, covered in what looked like Fallen runes, who seemed to be holding court with several other Guardians. “Shiro-4.”

I nodded in acknowledgment. He would clearly be the best person to discuss this new SIVA threat Aasim-7 had told us about. I cast a glance around for Zillah, but did not see her out here either. Celeste and I made our way to where the Vanguard scout stood. A loud commotion drew my attention away just in time to see a body come tumbling down the mountain. I hoped their Ghost had been prepared, whoever that was. Regardless, it looked painful.

Shiro still had a few Guardians of varying classes near him. Underneath the bright yellow cloak, the Hunter's armor was mostly light brown and black. Something about the studded chest piece looked vaguely familiar, but I was having trouble placing it.

“Traveler's Light, that's the Lucky Raspberry,” Celeste whispered. “Rumor has it no Guardian wearing it has ever died. Until they stopped wearing it, that is.”

That explained why it seemed familiar. The Lucky Raspberry was a fabled piece of armor of unknown origin. It passed from user to user, and seemingly had special properties that somehow affected its wearers Arc abilities. I briefly wondered how it had come to the scout. No matter. Shiro's optics turned to us as we approached. 

“Welcome to the Iron Temple,” he said amiably. “Hope you're ready to hunt some Fallen.”

“Always,” came Celeste's eager response.

“We've heard some of what has been going on out here. What can you tell us about the Plaguelands and Siva?” I asked the Hunter.

“Same thing I tell everyone,” he replied. “The Splicer situation is bad, and the Devils really seem to have bitten off more than they can chew with SIVA. It's a powder keg ready to blow, and we need everyone in there we can to keep a lid on it.”

“As for the Siva itself,” Shiro continued, “I haven't seen it in person. I know it's Golden Age tech and can be used to rebuild just about anything. Servitors. Weapons. Soldiers. When Aasim-7 first went in there, he took out some gun emplacements that they Devils had rebuilt with it. The guns started regenerating right in front of his eyes before he managed to take out the SIVA nodes. It seems to be growing out of control all by itself in some areas as well, snaking long, ropy tendrils all over the Plaguelands. Nasty stuff. You'll know it when you see it, that's for sure.”

I nodded and put that information alongside what Aasim had told us in the Tower. It seemed we were going to need to get a first-hand look at what was going on.

“And these 'Splicers'?” I probed. “How do they differ from any other Fallen we've faced?”

“They're upgraded,” the Vanguard scout said. “They have augmented their weapons, armor, and even their own bodies with the stuff. I can gave my Ghost share some of the scans we've made to give you a better idea. I've heard some crazy stuff. Surprising strength and damage resistance, augmented weapons, even masses of SIVA mites launching out of headless bodies.”

Elgan materialized and began communicating with Shiro's Ghost.

“I've got the data,” he said.

“Thanks for the information, Shiro,” I said to the Hunter.

“Good hunting, you two,” was the response, then he was turning to address some other Guardians that were approaching.

“Elgan, ping Feivel,” I told my Ghost. “Tell him to let Zillah know we're ready to head out. Time to see what has been hiding in the Plaguelands.”

…

The three of us transmatted in near a beacon placed by a previous Guardian. We were in the Plaguelands, right up next to the Wall. A quick survey revealed no Fallen in the immediate vicinity. I held out my hand and Elgan materialized above it.

“What are we looking at?” I asked the Ghost.

“I'm detecting a strong SIVA reading nearby. Multiple Fallen signatures near it as well.”

I nodded, and the Ghost disappeared back into my armor.

“Well, let's see what it is we're dealing with.”

The three of us moved forward slowly. As we drew near to the Fallen, we dropped down and hid behind cover. Celeste drew her sniper rifle and looked through the scope, getting a closer look at the Devil Splicers.

“Thrall spit, those things are creepy looking,” she muttered. “I thought regular Fallen were bad.”

“Describe them for me,” Zillah said.

“Well, for the most part they still look like Dregs. Just a few spots of heavy looking armor and some odd tubes. The freaky part is the legs. They look like someone chopped them off at the knees and they grew stilts to replace them.”

“Weaponry?” the Warlock probed.

“Doesn't look like anything out of the ordinary. Shock pistols and shock blades.”

“Any sign of anything other than Dregs?” I asked.

“Not that I can see right now. Doesn't preclude any Stealth Vandals, or course, but I'm not noticing any shimmers.”

“Take them out,” I told her.

“Sure thing,” she replied, and pulled the trigger. “I got... woah.”

“What?”

“I dropped the first one, but the others are moving. These suckers are fast,” she pulled the trigger again. “Blast! I missed!”

Seeing no point in hiding now that the Splicers knew where we were, I popped out from behind cover and closed the distance, readying my new shotgun. Despite Celeste's statement of a moment ago, it was still a shock to see how fast the Splicer Dregs moved. I close in and fired, the Dreg nearly dodging the shotgun blast. Pellets clipped its side and it spun away. The second shot finished it off. Then I heard the report of Zillah's scout rifle, followed by the thud of the third Dreg hitting the ground.

Just beyond where the three Fallen had been standing, a long, thick cable seemingly comprised of ropey, red strands stretched across the ground. Along the length of it were black pyramidal shapes placed seemingly at random. We stepped closer to have a look.

“Is this SIVA?” Celeste asked.

All three of our Ghosts made an appearance then, scanning the substance.

“Don't get too close,” I warned Elgan.

“Yes, yes,” came the annoyed response. “I read Shiro's data.”

Still, it did look like the three Ghosts backed up just a little bit. After a few seconds, Elgan broke awake from the structure to scan the Dregs.

“This is definitely a SIVA outgrowth,” Feivel stated in a nasally monotone. “The focal point being the black nodules running the length of the structure.”

“It's eating everything around it,” Whisper continued, “breaking it down into raw materials.”

“The visible changes to these Fallen are the least of what SIVA has actually done to their bodies,” Elgan chimed in. “What's happening at a cellular level is mind-boggling. I wonder if the Splicers even know what it is they have unleashed.”

“What do you mean?” Zillah asked.

“I mean, I'm amazed that the Fallen have any sense of autonomy remaining. SIVA seems to have infiltrated every major bodily system of this Dreg. Less so on the other two. Maybe he was modified first? Hard to say with any certainty without more information.”

Feivel had floated over and scanned the Fallen corpse as well. “There was a parasitic fungus in old historical records, whether they still exist or not I cannot say, that would infect and invade a host insect's tissues before eventually invading the brain. Once there, it would completely take control of the host body, usually then moving the creature somewhere to ensure maximum replication. Perhaps SIVA performs in a similar manner.”

“So you think the SIVA is consuming the Fallen with an intent to use them later on,” Zillah replied, “and all the while the Fallen believe they are the ones using it?”

“It is a distinct possibility,” Elgan admitted. “Again, we would need more data.”

“Definitely nasty stuff,” I murmured.

“Agreed.”

I turned my eyes to follow the length of the red cable. This particular outgrowth stretched for several hundred meters before disappearing into a rock. Beyond that, I could see more of the stuff spreading, though there was no way to know if it was a separate strand or if this was all part of a whole. How had the Iron Lords kept this contained for so long? And how had the Splicers found it and let it out?

“We came to see what was going on here,” I began, taking a moment to survey the immediate surroundings. “I say we do just that. Sparrows will help us cover more ground, but we'll keep it slow so we don't run into any surprises. Celeste, take point, scouting is your specialty. We'll follow this strand of SIVA for now and see where it leads us.”

“Roger, roger,” came the expected response.

Mounting our sparrows, we set out on the chosen path. We traveled between the SIVA outgrowth and the Wall, keeping a safe distance from the Golden Age monstrosity. It was not very long before I found myself letting go of the throttle and letting my sparrow coast to a stop. The other two continued on a bit before realizing I had stopped and doubled back. I sat stock still, staring ahead. The two women pulled up along side me.

“You okay, Old Man?” Celeste questioned.

“The Wall,” was all I could say.

Titans stood in defense of the first refugees to gather beneath the Traveler. We were a wall against the Darkness. Then the actual Wall was built, and we stood along it, still that vigilant defense for humanity. Titans still maintained that defense of humanity, with The Wall a standing reminder of what we were.

The Devil Splicers had desecrated that reminder.

A hole had been cut through The Wall leading to the Cosmodrome. Whether it was SIVA or the Fallen themselves that had done it, I did not know. At that moment, I did not care. All I knew then was a visceral reaction; that there was a violation that must be punished.

Sitting here accomplished nothing however. I shook off the shock of the sight. “Never mind. Let's keep going.”

They both hesitated, and I could feel them staring at me. I revved the engine of my sparrow, and Celeste took the hint. She started moving, and Zillah and I followed, continuing in the direction we had been heading. 

Celeste caught the first hint of another band of Fallen ahead. We dismounted our sparrows and our Ghosts transmatted them to safety. I thought I picked up some other movement nearby, but it disappeared. I eyed the nearby terrain suspiciously. Celeste and Zillah advanced slowly, so I turned my attention back to the definite contacts.

There were at least eight Fallen as well as a couple Shanks. I spotted what I presumed to be a Captain among the ranks, as well as what were likely Vandals. Like the Dregs, these Fallen had visible tubes or SIVA strands along their arms and backs, as well as black, angular armor that looked similar to the SIVA nodules. The Vandals had helmets that came to a sharp point, with pyramidal armor on their shoulders. The Captains helmets were less ornate than normal, but now sprouted four wicked looking horns. There were sharp-looking spikes jutting from their elbows as well.

“Do we take them?” Celeste asked.

I considered it. Taking on a larger force of unknown capabilities was rarely the smart thing. Normally a force of Fallen this size would not present an insurmountable threat to a team of three Guardians, but there was no way to know how much SIVA had augmented them or their machines. If we wanted to find out, however, there was only one way to go about it.

“Yes,” I said. “Take them out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made a point before about no Exotics. Well, Shiro denied me that. I'm mostly okay with it, as he is a key character in the world. My take on them is that they should be rare and powerful, so having one show up in that way isn't a problem. And even something as relatively underwhelming in game as the Raspberry would be something unusual and a big deal.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

 

Celeste brought her sniper up and fired, taking the head off one of the Vandals. Normally, the result of such a shot would be a puff of ether and a body on the ground. This time, we were in for a shock. A red orb of SIVA mites launched out of the body as it fell and streaked toward us. I reacted quickly, throwing my arms out to the side, the Void Light forming a shell of protection around us. The SIVA projectile hit the Ward of Dawn and erupted.

By then, the other Fallen had reacted and started to move. The Captain roared then teleported out of sight while the lesser Splicers jumped into action. It was quickly apparent that Dregs were not the only Fallen to whom SIVA had granted enhanced speed. There were other surprises in store as well. The group we had taken down before had not had a chance to return fire. We now saw what SIVA had done to the Fallen weapons.

Shock pistols fired, the energy dancing out of the gun in a zigzag pattern now, rather than straight forward like it should. The surviving Vandal opened fire with a wire rifle that seemed to fire in short bursts like a pulse rifle rather than the single shots we were accustomed to. The Shanks darted to the sides, quickly trying to flanks us and firing rapidly. Every shot splashed harmlessly against my Ward for now, but that would soon change.

“Well, that was a bit like kicking a hornet's nest, wasn't it,” I muttered to myself, taking in the scene. Then, to the others, “Clearly the weapons are enhanced like their speed. Keep an eye out for that Captain as well.

“I noticed a flicker around the Captain right before it vanished,” Celeste said. “Looked like Void shields.”

“I can take care of that,” Zillah replied. “The Captain is mine.”

“Then we'll take care of the trash,” I stated. “Ready?”

Celeste slapped her sniper rifle to her back and drew her hand cannon. “Ready.”

I went left, Celeste split right. Thanks to the Blessings of Light, we both were still shielded briefly, which came in handy due to the speed of the enhanced Fallen. The Shanks pivoted in the air, firing at the two of us as we darted out. My shotgun spat buckshot, shredding the machines and dropping them. I heard the report of Celeste's gun, but could not check her progress. I was too busy trying to dodge unpredictable fire from the Dregs.

With the other Fallen's attention directed to the two of us, Zillah was able to go straight through the middle of them. She charged forward, leaping into the air to give herself a line of sight to the Captain. Everything was bathed in purple Void Light for a moment, then there was a small explosion as the Nova Bomb found its target.

I ducked behind a boulder to reload, slipping shells in as fast as I could. I also charged a magnetic grenade. Emerging from cover I flung the grenade, which stuck to the side of a Shank and exploded, destroying it and wounding the closest Dreg. I finished him off with a shotgun blast, followed by another for the next one. That put me in position where I had a clear view of Celeste.

She leaped into the air, flinging a smoke grenade that latched onto a Dreg, disorienting the alien. Her jump carried her into another which she dispatched with a quick slash of her knife. She rolled off of the corpse and came up firing her hand cannon, finishing off the blinded Dreg and wounding the Vandal. Unfortunately, she did not manage to put him down.

Where her rounds had struck, a red glow poured from the Vandal and wrapped around it. SIVA, defending its host. The alien roared in defiance and charged Celeste, swinging its wire rifle like a club. It smashed into her hand, and she cried out, dropping her hand cannon. The Vandal spun in one quick movement, swinging the butt of the rifle in a sharp uppercut. It struck her under her chin, harder than I would have thought possible. There was an audible crack, her had snapped back sharply, and she was lifted from her feet and thrown several meters backward. She did not get up. The Vandal pounced, slamming the rifle down onto her with a sickening sound.

“Celeste!” I yelled and brought my gun to bear. 

Before I could pull the trigger, I heard the crack of a rifle and the Vandal flinched, turning its attention away from Celeste. It started to charge again as more rounds ripped into it before it fell dead. I glanced at Zillah, and the Warlock nodded. I turned and sprinted over to Celeste's still form. The blow from the Vandal had shattered the respirator of her helmet, exposing the lower half of her face. There was blood, though at that moment I could not spot the point of origin. Whisper had emerged and was flitting around her, the pieces of his shell spinning nervously.

“Is she...?”

“No,” the Ghost replied in its soft voice. “She is alive, but severely injured.”

“Can you do anything for her?”

“No,” there was a note of desperation now. “I have tried waking her, but she is not responding.”

“That Vandal was covered in SIVA. Scan to make sure none of that stuff got on her.”

“Already did that. She is clean.”

“What about you? Can you help her?” I asked, sensing Zillah approach from behind.

“I never mastered Solar Light,” she replied, “I can't do it.”

“Then we get her to someone who can.”

Some Guardians had been known to kill injured teammates, allowing their Ghosts to just rez them. I could never bring myself to be so callow. I stooped down and hooked my arms underneath Celeste, lifting her off the ground. A cry sounded from somewhere nearby, echoed from the other direction. Other Splicers knew we were here and were hunting us.

“Elgan, get us out of here,” I said, and the transmat took us.

…

The Iron Temple was closer than the Tower, but I had seen no indication of an infirmary there. Whisper stayed present, monitoring Celeste the entire flight back. Poor little guy was a nervous wreck. Not that I was doing much better, if I am being perfectly honest.

I have worked with other Guardians who have been severely injured. I have been there when other Guardians died permanently, their Light extinguished. Friends. Fireteam members. We all know it is a distinct possibility when we take the field, even if our Ghost and Light does make us feel invincible sometimes. This hit me differently than those did. Maybe it was the burden of command. She was only there because of me and I should have been able to protect her.

Celeste was still unresponsive and her breathing was shallow when we reached the Tower. I picked her up again and Elgan transmatted up directly to the infirmary. The medical staff rushed her out of sight and I was left to wait helplessly in the lobby. 

I sat and took my helmet off, placing it on the chair beside me. Closing my eyes, I leaned forward and covered my face with my hands, silently offering a prayer to whoever may be listening. My mind played out every worst case scenario possible, then began flashing to different memories over the years. Her resurrection. The first time she ran to me and hugged me. When she demonstrated her Dusk Bow and told me that she had chosen the path of the Void because of me, because her first experience with the Light was my Ward of Dawn. The strange pride she showed in her first scar.

At that moment, I hated the Fallen. I know many Guardians who had started developing some sympathy for them. Opted to use their proper name of “Eliksni” when discussing them. I had had a few of those moments myself at times, knowing what we have learned about their history with the Traveler from Variks. They would get no more from me if she failed to recover.

The sound of movement drew me back to the present and I looked up, thinking it might have been the medical staff. Instead, I was surprised to see Zillah standing in the room. She fidgeted, then strode across the room and took a seat across from me without speaking a word. She still had her helm on, so I could not even begin to guess what was going on.

“Thanks for coming,” I said after several minutes of awkward silence.

“I had no where else to be,” she said without conviction.

“Don't.”

“Don't what?”

“Don't act like you don't care,” I said. “The two of you might never be super best friends, but you wouldn't have come by if you weren't concerned.”

“I didn't come here for her. At least, not directly. You're right, we don't get along and probably never will completely. But what happens to her, well, it... it matters because...,” she trailed off and turned her head away.

“Because what?”

“Because it matters to you,” she said, turning her gaze back in my direction. “You came out to check on me while you were on the Reef, regardless of what your reason for being out there actually was. No other Guardian I know would have done that. Certainly none of the Awoken. You were there for me, so I would like to be here for you.”

“Thank you,” I said after a moment of stunned silence.

“You're welcome.”

We well into a less awkward silence then. This time, she broke it.

“I can't believe I had to actually say that out loud. You Titans really are thick-headed, aren't you?”

That brought a small chuckle despite the situation. I shook my head and stared at the unreadable face of her helmet.

“Solid plasteel. All the better to keep the bookworms safe,” I replied.

“Well, good to hear you know your role as meat shield.”

She crossed her legs at the knees, lacing her fingers together, hands on her stomach, and tilted her head to the side. I opened my mouth to reply, but came up with nothing. She let out a little sound that told me she was smirking beneath the mask. I just shook my head again and leaned my head back, looking up at the ceiling.

Zillah asked, “Mind if I ask you a question?”

“Not at all,” I replied.

“What is the connection with you two? It's clear there is a lot of history there.”

“You could say that,” I responded. “It's a long story, but I think we have the time if you want to hear it.”

“I wouldn't have asked if I didn't,” she said dryly.

So I told her. About finding Celeste, about everything that I had just been replaying in my head moments before. I talked about missions we had worked on together and how my fear of something like today happening kept me from giving in to her requests to form an official fireteam. When I finished, Zillah rose from her seat and walked across the room, keeping her back turned toward me. Confused by the response, I was about to ask her about it when the doors to the patient area opened.

“Claney Beamard?” the nurse asked.

“Yes?”

“Please come back with me, sir.”

I caste a glance back toward Zillah, but she still had her back toward me. Without a word, I turned back to the nurse and followed her through the door. She led me back to the room where they had Celeste. Her armor had been removed, and there were different monitors attached to her. She looked like she was sleeping peacefully.

“How is she?” I asked.

“As far as we can tell, she's fine,” the nurse said, the words lifting a weight off my shoulders. “She has yet to regain full consciousness, but all vitals are good and there are plenty of signs of brain activity. I'd be surprised if she didn't come around very soon.”

“Thank you,” I said. “But why did you bring me back now if that is the case?”

“Her Ghost,” the nurse said with a small smile. “He was insistent that you be present when she woke up. There's a chair in there, I'll leave you with her.”

The nurse stepped away to see to other patients, and I entered the room. I sat to wait. Whisper peaked up out from beneath the covers and fluttered over to me. I held out my hand, and the Ghost settled to rest on my palm. I reached over and patted the top of it with my other hand like one would pet a small animal. We waited like that in silence for an unknown amount of time. The steady beep of machinery began to lull me to sleep, and I nearly nodded off when I heard a voice.

“Hey, Old Man.”

My eyes snapped open and I looked up to see her smiling at me from the hospital bed. Whisper shot out of my hand and began flying in circles above her. She laughed and held up a hand, tapping his shell gently with one finger.

“Welcome back, Kiddo,” I said, feeling a flood of relief.

“I just needed a little nap, that's all,” she replied, eyes taking in her surroundings. “Was all this really necessary?”

“Next time, can you at least wait until we're not in the middle of a life or death situation to rest?”

“No promises,” she said.

“I'll tell the nurses you're up, they'll want to know.”

“Nah, don't bother them,” was the response. “Let's just go, they'll figure it out.”

“Go?”

“Yeah, back to the Plaguelands,” she said, sitting up.

“I think not,” I replied, putting a hand on her shoulder and pushing her back down. “I'll be going back, but you will be staying here for a little while.”

“But...” she began to protest.

“No buts. You took a vicious blow, and you're going to get a doctor okay before you get back out there,” I told her sternly, then softened my tone. “They'll probably just want to watch you for a day or so to make sure there are no lingering side effects. You scared me, Kiddo.”

“Promise me you won't go after Sepiks until I'm out of here at least,” she said, pouty.

“I promise,” I replied with a smile.

I patted her arm, then left the room to find the nurse. She came in and started talking with Celeste, and I took that moment to slip out. Celeste would probably be upset that I did not actually say goodbye, but she would get over it.

I strode back out into the lobby to find Zillah still there, having retaken her seat. I picked my helmet up and put it on then Elgan check our stores of ammo synths. Time for some payback.

“How is she?” Zillah asked.

“She'll be fine after she gets some rest,” I said. “I'm angry and need to take it out on some four-armed aliens. Still with me?”

“Absolutely,” she replied, getting to her feet.

“Good. Let's go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter brought the most criticism when first published over the nature of Celeste's injury. Some readers thought that the attack wasn't enough to have caused so much concern. Part of that was a misunderstanding on my part when I was reading up about the Splicers. Something I read mentioned the Vandals turning read and rushing to use a melee attack "like an ogre". I initially took that to me with the strength of an ogre. That kind of blow under the jaw seemed enough to do a whole lot of damage. Later, I thought maybe it just meant that attack in a similar manner. I tweaked it some after originally writing the chapter, and tweaked it a little more before re-posting it here.  
> It may still not be quite right, but it was too necessary for the story to cut completely.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

 

I did not feel like heading back into the Plaguelands shorthanded, so I needed to find a third member of our team. I could only think of one person I was relatively certain would be both at the Tower and willing to go along, so long as I dangled the right bait. That part was easy.

“Want to see something new?”

Scott-20 was right where I would have expected, in his study. He immediately jumped at the offer, also as expected. Given his loyalty to New Monarchy, and the fact that we went to Venus specifically to get information to help their weapon foundries, I worried briefly about Executor Hideo or someone else being taken by the weapon potential of SIVA and demanding he bring something back, but I deemed it worth the risk.

If he did try, I was certain in my ability to stop him.

Zillah and I shared with him most of what we knew without specifically mentioning the download Elgan had received from Shiro's Ghost. By the time we made the short flight to the Plaguelands, he was up to speed on what we had witnessed of the Splicer's abilities. He seemed a little nervous, but eager as well.

The three of us dropped down into the Plaguelands very close to where Zillah, Celeste, and I had retreated from previously. The bodies of the Fallen were gone, which was predictable. However, there was some sort of trace residue that made me question whether they had been moved or if the SIVA had broken them down.

“One thing I do not understand,” Scott-20 said, staring at the red remains while his Ghost scanned it, “is where the SIVA is coming from now. You said this Aasim-7 told you that he destroyed the replication complex, correct? The place where the Iron Lords had sealed it away so long ago? If Saladin expected that to put an end to the threat, he was sadly mistaken. Do you think the Fallen have discovered, or perhaps even constructed, a new chamber of their own?”

“We were so busy getting down here before that I never even thought about that,” Zillah admitted.

Scott just glanced over at her without a reply.

“There was a lot going on,” I said. “It is a valid point though. If they have chambers growing this stuff, we need to try to figure out where they are and someone needs to shut them down fast.”

“Agreed,” Scott said, straightening up. “The question being, 'Where do we look?'”

“A Hunter might come in handy tracking it down,” Zillah said, then stiffened up, her hands clamping over the lower half of her faceplate. “I did not just say that.”

“Missing ideas that are obvious in retrospect, wishing we had Hunter along... Sounds like we are starting to grow on you a bit,” I teased.

“If you tell her I said that, I swear to all things holy I will end you, Titan.”

I held my hands up in mock surrender, but the moment of levity did not last. There was too much danger, and my anger was not interested in being abated. We needed to get to business.

“Let's get moving,” I said, letting my arms drop. “We'll follow these lines of outbreak for now, see if they lead us to any obvious starting points. Just... don't get too close.”

We mounted our sparrows and set off. We actually managed to make a decent bit of distance this time before picking up Fallen signatures, giving us our first good look at the Plaguelands proper, rather than what was just along the Wall. Everything in this section of the Cosmodrome was either falling to rust or SIVA. Sometimes both. The remains of several large tankers could be seen as well, along with innumerable storage and shipping containers. This must be where supplies for Cosmodrome ships had been transported during the Golden Age.

The first contact we made was a big one. Enough signatures that I was wondering how we would deal with that many Splicers. When we finally caught sight of them, however, we were in for a bit of a surprise. It wasn't just Splicers. The Fallen were already engaged with Hive forces. 

“Did we know the Hive had reached this far into the Cosmodrome?” I asked, watching the two aliens take shots at each other.

“The Fallen seem to have flushed them to the surface all over,” Scott responded. “It might be less that they had already spread this far and that the Devil Splicers have driven them here with their activities.”

“Regardless of the reason,” Zillah chimed in, “they are in our way now. How should we proceed?”

“We hit the Splicers,” I said. “The Hive we know. We can handle them. These Splicers are a threat on an entirely different level. We take advantage of the distraction of the Hive, maybe even let them take a few of the Fallen for us. After we drop the Splicers, we wipe out the Hive. They're dangerous and not a threat we want behind us.”

The others nodded and we prepared to move.

“One last thing,” I added. “Dibs on any Vandals.”

Two Knights on the Hive side of the encounter launched volleys toward the Fallen. As the Splicers looked to track the Arc blasts, we made our move. I went in fast, trying to hit the Fallen before they knew what was coming. The last time the three of us got in the middle of a pitched battled between our enemies, they both called in reinforcements. I wanted to make sure that did not happen this time.

I vaulted onto the rusted platform the nearest Splicer stood on. The Dreg did not even have time to turn its head before I struck, punching it with a fist full of Void energy. The Fallen disintegrated and I found myself covered in a defensive barrier. Protected, I continued to push in hard. I took hold of my shotgun, blasting the next Dreg at point blank range, its body tossed back by the force of the blast. A flicker of purple light danced in my peripheral vision.

“Captain!” I shouted, pointing in the direction it had come from. Just then, several blasts of energy barely missed striking me. 

I looked in the direction the shots had come from to see a Vandal perched on a high railing overlooking the battlefield. The four-armed alien raised its arms in defiance, then lowered the gun to unleash another round of fire. I sprinted toward its position and leaped, using Lift to power me upward quickly. I could not get high enough to land on the railing, but I did not need to. I stuck up a hand at the last moment, grabbing the bottom of it, then swung myself upward.

I faced off against the Vandal, and it charged. It swung wildly at me and I ducked, avoiding the blow. Thankfully it was not the SIVA fueled rampage that we had seen from the wounded Vandal earlier, but the alien had still been enhanced enough by the SIVA worming through its body that it severely damaged the wall when it struck. I grabbed my shotgun again and quickly swept it upward. The barrel stopped just below the Vandal's chin and I pulled the trigger, taking its head off. As it dropped, another one of those red SIVA orbs emerged. I barely had time to get out of the way, dropping to the ground as it exploded above me. Pieces of the platform rained down where I landed.

“Servitor!” Zillah called out suddenly.

I looked around and spotted the large machine emerging from behind the Fallen line flanked by Shanks. The normally smooth silhouette of the Servitors had changed, lines of energy running along the outside of it and giving it a spiked appearance from head on. Void energy seemed to bleed off of it. The Servitor shook and a rapid stream of energy blasts erupted from it, hammering the ground around Scott-20 and sending him scurrying for cover. Apparently, like the Shanks, the Servitor had gotten an upgrade in its rate of fire.

“Have you noticed that no ether escapes the Splicers when you killed them?” Elgan's voice sounded in my ear.

“Now is not really the time, Ghost,” I replied through gritted teeth.

“Oh, you can shoot while I talk,” he said dismissively. “So, like I was saying, have you noticed the lack of ether from the Splicers?”

“Nope.”

Scott poked out from behind cover and opened fire, dropping two of the enhanced Shanks. Zillah took the other two out with well placed shots from her scout rifle. That left the Servitor, which peppered the area with more Void blasts. I summoned a grenade and heaved it at the machine, watching it stick and then explode. The Fallen construct staggered under the blast, then turned and opened fire at me. It was all I could do to get behind cover as well. While the Void energy slammed harmlessly behind me, I quickly reloaded the Curtain Call.

“Well, lucky I'm here then,” the Ghost continued. “It seems that SIVA removes the need for ether. As such, this Servitor seems to have been modified as well. It no longer produces the ether and is now purely a weapons platform.”

“Noted. Now let us finish killing it, please.”

A scatter grenade hit the ground next to the Servitor, breaking apart and sending several destructive pieces at the orb. The three of us targeted it then, the concentrated fire quickly destroying the Fallen machine. Any feeling of relief was quickly drowned out by a shriek from behind. The Hive wanted to make sure we had not forgotten them.

Three Thralls were running in a beeline toward me. I dashed forward and away from them briefly, seeing a Dreg I had seen duck behind cover moments before. I surprised the Dreg and put it down with a blast of buckshot before turning back to face the Thrall. They had closed the gap between us, and the first was launching itself toward me, claws outstretched.

My fist met its face, and it spun and crashed to the ground. The others were on me then. I threw punches, connecting, knocking the two of them back enough to give me room to maneuver. Taking the opportunity, I snapped my shotgun back up, taking out one. Unfortunately, that was the last shell in the chamber. Using the butt of the gun, I struck the other Thrall and knocked it down. I finished it off by hand.

Around me, the cacophony of battle raged. The report of Fallen weapons had nearly died down, but the Hive fired with renewed vigor. I could hear the sounds of my team's weapons, then the energetic crackling of a Stormcaller unleashing Arc energy. I reloaded again, then charged in behind Scott. I had to sprint to catch up to him. The electricity flowing from his hands began to fizzle and then died, and I leaped over his head. A Knight in front of him had put up it's barrier to protect from Scott's Stormtrance, but my jump carried me over the defensive shield. Caught off guard, the Knight could do nothing but crumble to dust when I shot it in the head. 

Several more shots rang out after that, but the field had become much quieter and nearly all the red had disappeared from my HUD. I finished off an Acolyte that was firing from behind a broken piece of wall, and that was the end of it.

“I'm detecting a strong SIVA signature in the building the Fallen were emerging from,” Elgan said suddenly.

“Let's check it out,” I replied.

Cautiously we entered the large doors into what appeared to be some sort of storage room. Everything inside looked tossed around haphazardly, though I got the impression it was more related to the Collapse than the Fallen. Here and there, pieces of machinery still seemed to be still trying to perform some long forgotten function, a testament to the engineering capabilities of the Golden Age. 

There was no sign of active Fallen or SIVA visible at first, but as we pushed further in, several nodes became visible. Most of them were closed, but a few were split wide at the top, spewing red clouds from the opening. At the base of these nodes, several red tendrils were beginning to grow and spread.

“It couldn't have been that easy, could it?” I asked rhetorically. Of course, my Ghost never met a rhetorical question he did not like.

“No, I don't believe so. I am detecting SIVA strands similar to what we were following leading here, not moving away from it. This just seems to be a staging ground of some kind.”

The mass of SIVA growing near the node continued to expand, creeping in our direction. The individual strands almost looked like fingers reaching out toward us.

“Whether this is one of the chambers or not,” Zillah chimed in, “I think leaving this here is a bad idea.”

“Agreed,” Scott said.

Each of us had our Ghosts transmat in a rocket launcher along with a heavy ammo synth. We each unloaded, blasting each node that we were able to see. When we ran out of rockets, we used grenades to finish the job. The SIVA tendrils burned and crackled, curling in on themselves. Satisfied, we continued on our way.

After several kilometers, it started to become clear that just following a line of SIVA was not going to get us anywhere. The stuff stretched everywhere and we did not have an unlimited amount of time to sight-see. We needed a better plan.

“We need a better plan,” Zillah said, echoing my thoughts eerily. “Let's find a place to stop and figure something out.”

Scott and I agreed, and we stopped at the next building we came to. It was a smallish two-story that looked like used to belong to a small business. The walls would hide us from prying eyes, even if the broken roof would not provide similar protection should the weather take a turn for the worse. It also had the benefit of having a clear view in each direction so that we could watch for any approach.

“I'll keep an eye out for any visitors,” I told the others. I held out my hand and Elgan materialized. “You stay with the Warlocks and their Ghosts. Between the five of you, I'm sure you can figure something out.”

The others convened in a room on the first floor to pour over the information we had on SIVA again, see if they could figure out a better way to track the stuff. I climbed a rickety set of stairs up to the second floor, positioning myself where I had a decent view of the path we had followed.

Between the earlier entry into these Plaguelands, the trip back to the Tower, and now this excursion, we had burned a good chunk of the day. The horizon seemed to burn as the sun began to dip out of sight. The faint luminescence of the SIVA outbreaks became visible as the sky darkened. Looking the direction we had been traveling, I could see a brighter glow in the distance. The light from it seemed to flicker, as if caused by a flame or intense heat. No telling what the Fallen were up to over there, though I am sure we would find out soon enough.

Stars appeared over head and the sun completed its tactical withdrawal. Light giving way to darkness. Not a very pleasant notion when phrased that way. The Darkness pushing against Light. Dawn still came each day, though, so maybe there was some hope in that.

A hole in the roof gave me a perfect view of the ceiling of stars. I stared hard at the little pinpricks of light for a while, wondering what the old me thought of them, back in that other life I couldn't remember. Did I pay them any mind? Wonder about them? Dream of visiting them? I would like to think that I did. I wondered, not for the first time, what it would be like to live in a world where the stars represented something more than the source of myriad threats to our survival.

I shook my head and blinked hard a few times, wondering where this sudden maudlin line of thought was coming from. Tonight was not a night to let my mind wander. I checked out the windows one more time. Satisfied that everything was clear for now, I made my way back down to the others.

The two Warlocks were standing side by side, studying a projection that Scott's Ghost was making on the wall. Formulas and text I couldn't make out from where I stood made up the bulk of the projection, but there was also an image which at first I thought was some sort of cell before I realized it was mechanical. A SIVA nanomachine, perhaps?

“Making any progress?”

“Actually, yes,” Zillah replied. “Based on the scans that have been made of the SIVA outgrowths and the Splicers we have fought so far, we believe the Ghosts will be able to tap into our ships systems and get a strong enough reading to at least point us in the direction of any replication chambers the Devils have set up.”

“It is all a hypothesis, of course,” Scott supplied, “one we have yet to test. Once we have made some modifications to the ships we can run a scan and see what it shows us.”

“Great work, you two,” I replied, impressed. “We might want to wait until morning, however. Communications with the ships might be detectable. I wouldn't want to give away our position in the middle of the night with Fallen and Hive around. They would both have the advantage over us in the dark.”

Zillah nodded, “We have plenty we can do on this end before taking that step anyway.”

“I can work on that as well as keep watch if you would like,” Scott offered. “I will not require any sort of rest anytime soon. It would be best if the two of you got some sleep.”

This time, it was my turn to nod, “Fair enough. Wake me up if you see anything, though. I don't care if it's a lone Dreg sleepwalking past us, got it?”

“Agreed.” With that, Scott and his Ghost left the room, headed toward the staircase.

Elgan drifted over to me and dematerialized. I saw Feivel float over to Zillah and do the same. Picking a corner I crossed the room and settled down, leaning my head against the walls. I set my shotgun across my lap.

“Do you think it will actually work,” I asked my Ghost over a private channel.

“Ninety three percent chance it will work as expected the first time,” he said. “Two percent chance a ship explodes.”

“Oh, is that all?” I replied. “Well, so long as it is less than three we're good, right?”

“Exactly.”

I couldn't tell if he was being facetious or not and decided I might prefer not to know right then. Thankfully, my thoughts didn't return to the same track they had been on before. I closed my eyes and started to drift when I heard a voice.

“Claney?”

My eyes opened and I glanced over at Zillah. She had chosen to lay on the ground, flat on her back. I couldn't tell exactly where she was looking due to the helmet, but her face was pointed in my general direction.

“Yes?”

“For the record, I hate sleeping on the floor. If this is how your missions always go, I want you to know that I won't be joining you anymore.”

“Noted.”

“Claney?”

“Yes?”

A short hesitation. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

…

Scott let us sleep through the remainder of the night. I woke with the dawn, standing to stretch muscles sore from sleeping upright in armor. I noticed Zillah had rolled into a prone position at some point in the night. She stirred shortly after I woke, pushing herself up. A few moments later, Scott came strolling into the room.

The brains of the operation all got together again and implemented their plan. Scott agreed to let his ship be the one used to test the modifications. I returned to the upper floor, keeping watch and eating a ration bar. A shout from downstairs drew my attention and I hurried back down.

“It worked,” Scott said excitedly as soon as he saw me. “Or, it did what we expected it to. We are picking up what should be SIVA replication chambers.”

“Chambers? Plural?” I asked.

“Yes,” Zillah replied. “That is the good news/bad news situation here. We think we have a way to track SIVA to its new source, but it seems the Fallen have set up multiple locations. It would seem they don't want one Guardian coming in and destroying their prize.”

“We'll need to let the Vanguard know what we've found,” I said. “But first, let's make sure it is what we think it is.”

“The closest one is only about five kilometers away from here,” Zillah stated.

“Then let's go visit the neighbors.”


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

 

We'd barely set out when a call came in. Celeste, released and looking to get back in the fight. I was tempted to ignore it, wanting to give in to the fantasy that she would take the hint and stay out of this one. I knew better than that, of course. If I didn't respond, she would probably manage to track us down anyway. Probably hid a tracker on my sparrow or something. I had Elgan send her the coordinates and ETA, instructing her to meet us there. Knowing her, I figured she would try to beat us there, so I had him fudge the second number a bit.

We followed the signal to the closest signal that Scott-20 and Zillah's modified sensors had detected. The trail led to a large wall of rock. We came to a stop outside a small opening that looked too perfectly circular to be a natural formation. The Fallen might have been going for stealth, hiding whatever was going on here underground, but SIVA had pretty much ruined that. Tendrils of the stuff snaked out of the cave, spreading out in every direction. 

“I'd say it's safe to assume that this is the place,” I said, climbing off of my sparrow, which promptly disappeared.

The others followed suite. The two Warlocks took a step toward the cave and I motioned for them to stop. I held up a hand with all five digits extended, then counted down 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Right as the last finger dropped, Celeste transmatted in, a full minute ahead of the time I had Elgan tell her we would be there. She looked at us one after the other, stopping at me.

“You cheated,” she said finally.

“Yep. But only because I knew you would too.”

“Fair enough,” she conceded. “Hey, Scott.”

“Hello, Celeste,” the Exo Warlock replied. “It is good to see you again.”

“You too,” she told him. Then, “Zillah.” 

“Celeste,” Zillah offered. “Well, now that that's out of the way, can we get down to business?”

“Yes, lets,” I stated. “Alright, Kiddo, quick catch-you-up: big SIVA signature in the hole, we're going down to shoot stuff.”

“Got it,” she responded, drawing her hand cannon.

I took the lead. No motion showed on my HUD, but that was quickly determined to be from interference. Not sure if it was something in the Fallen tech, the SIVA, or just the rock itself. Had to be something that we were in proximity to, given the ship had managed to detect the energy signature. Regardless, it became clear that it was interference when we rounded a bend and nearly ran right into a lone Dreg. It had been strolling right toward us and seemed completely shocked to see us. It wasn't even holding its gun. Celeste moved lightning quick and took it out before it could make a sound or draw a weapon.

Much to our surprise we discovered that the Devil did not seem to be modified by SIVA. Feivel emerged and scanned it, confirming that it was indeed free of the technology. Zillah held out her hand and her Ghost returned. No time to ponder the anomaly now. I lifted the corpse and set it off to the side. There was nowhere to hide it, but it was at least a little less obvious here and a Fallen might pass it unseen.

I hated the idea of continuing on knowing we were going in blind, but we needed to see what exactly it was we had detected. We pushed onward, SIVA threads casting an eerie glow on the stone walls. Revealed in the light, the walls themselves were smooth enough to confirm my earlier thought about the cavern being artificial. The Devils had clearly been burrowing into the area here for a long while. An image of the Plaguelands being hollowed out by Fallen like the Hive had done to the moon flashed through my mind. That thought was interrupted by Celeste.

“I know what you were trying to do, Old Man,” came her voice over a private channel.

“I'm sure I don't know what you mean.”

“Oh, please,” she continued, “you know you can't lie to me. You were trying to ditch me. Why else would you have come here with Scott?”

“Scott is a very capable...,” I began, but she cut me off.

“Yes, I know what he can do, just like you know that isn't what I meant. You had to know I wasn't going to be on the shelf that long. You could have waited for me. But you didn't. You went and grabbed the first Guardian you could and set back out.”

“You're right,” I admitted. “After what happened before, I didn't want you back down here. I didn't want anything else to happen to you.”

“I'm not a child anymore,” she stated. “I'm a Guardian. A Hunter. And a pretty good one at that.”

“Yes, I know that,” I replied.

“Then act like it. Give me some credit and let me do what I do,” she snapped. There was a brief silence, then, “And I'm not your sidekick.”

She cut the line after that last word. I was about to reopen it, when my attention was drawn back to the task at hand. A bright red glow illuminated a bend in the cave ahead of us. Thinking we might be nearing the source of the SIVA reading, we slowed our approach. No need to stumble upon an entire group of Fallen unexpectedly. When I reached the curve in the path, I motioned for the others to wait, then crept to the edge. Cautiously, I leaned out, peering around the corner.

From here, I could not get a great view of what lay beyond. I could see that it opened into a much larger cavern, with strands of SIVA stretching every which way. The sound of Fallen voices echoed from in the room. I glanced back to the others, motioned for them to wait, then crouched down and slowly made my way forward.

The cavern ahead stretched high over head, but also expanded downward. The path we were on ended in a platform overlooking the room. Steps on both sides led downward. SIVA stretched from floor to ceiling, wall to wall, crisscrossing in an ominous spider's web. Slick, angular constructs covered much of the cavern's walls and odd shapes hung from the ceiling. Everything was lit blood red. There were several openings around the cavern as well, leading to different rooms, snakes of SIVA flowing through them. On the far side of the room, I could see several Fallen. None of them seemed to be looking in our direction. I slipped back far enough to motion to the others, then we all moved into the space.

All of the Fallen save one knelt in a semi-circle around the lone standing figure. That particular Fallen looked similar to the SIVA infused Captains we had seen before, though appeared slightly larger from this distance. Around the gathering of Fallen stood four large SIVA nodes, all open and leaking red nanites. Open nodes hung from the ceiling as well. Similar collections of closed nodes scattered the landscape.

The central figure raised all four arms in the air, and I realized this Fallen was the source of the echoed voice earlier. It seemed to be chanting something. The kneeling Fallen bowed low to the ground, prostrating themselves before this figure. The motions were clearly religious and ritualistic in nature. The standing figure must be a priest of some sort. As we watched, the Priest raised and lowered its arms several times, crying our in their odd language. The bowed Fallen raised back to a kneeling position, arms stretched upward as well. Then the SIVA moved.

The nodes began spraying large clouds into the air, blanketing the gathered Devils. Tendrils of the stuff lashed quickly down from the ceiling, coiling around individuals, covering them completely. Cocooning them. Each chrysalis was then pulled upward. I followed the movement and my jaw grew slack when I realized what the odd shapes I noticed earlier had been. Hundreds of cocoons hung from the ceiling. An army waiting to be reborn.

“By the Traveler,” Scott whispered. 

I had a very strong suspicion that we had found the right place. Even if not, I had no doubt that this place, and every other one like it we had detected, needed to be destroyed. One thing I did question was whether or not we had the firepower to do it. Aasim's reports had mentioned getting the SIVA chamber that had been the Iron Lords tomb to self destruct. Maybe there was a way we could get a similar result here. Of course, that meant pushing further in this place.

Its ritual completed, the Splicer Priest stood still in the cloud of nanites, then turned suddenly, stalking down one of the tunnels. Behind him, the SIVA nodes closed, the red clouds dissipating. The room was still, the only sound being a faint creaking noise coming from the ceiling as a few of the cocoons rocked slightly.

“Ideas?” I asked the others.

“A well placed charge in here, if the detonation was powerful enough, could bring the cavern down,” Zillah opined, “and destroy what is here. That could trap any SIVA production further in beneath the rubble. Now, whether that would actually contain it or if it would just eat its way to the surface...,” she trailed off with a shrug.

“Containing it is possible. The Iron Lords sealed it away for decades,” Scott replied. “I do not think it would act of its own accord to burrow out.”

“What about pushing further in and finding out exactly what is going on here?” I asked, making sure we covered all bases. “It could be valuable intel, and we know there is at least one Devil in here who would be capable of directing the SIVA if it survived the explosion.”

“I don't like the idea of going down those tunnels,” Celeste added, “but I like the idea of leaving that Priest behind even less.”

“Agreed,” I said. “I think pushing in after the Priest is key. We can't leave someone that could keep working with any SIVA that survived the explosion. Destroying this room is mandatory as well. We can't let whatever is happening up there,” I indicated the ceiling, “come to fruition.”

“I hate it when Titans make sense,” Zillah muttered. “Fine. Let's kill us a Priest, then blow this place.”

“Next question,” I continued, “how exactly do we do that? I don't know about you, but I doubt that a few rockets will do what we need to destroy all of this.”

“With some time, I believe I could construct a device with the proper yield,” Scott offered. “I will need to exit these caves and send a signal to my ship to bring some supplies down.”

“Get on it,” I told him. “We'll go after the Priest.”

He nodded then turned and headed back through the tunnel toward the surface. The rest of us continued onward. When we reached the floor of the cavern, we were careful to try to place our feet between the SIVA strands that covered the floor. We weren't quite sure what might happen if we happened to step on it, but we were in no hurry to find out either. Having seen that at least some of the tendrils were capable of moving made us very wary.

We crossed the room without incident. A quick glance down the tunnel revealed no Fallen, so we continued on the path of the priest. This tunnel was nearly identical to the one that had led down to the cavern. Knowing we were definitely following an enhanced Devil, I kept my weapon ready and trained ahead. A glance at Celeste revealed a similar posture, holding her weapon in a two handed grip. Zillah was not holding a gun, but there was a faint purple glow around her hands, revealing that she was ready to unleash her own attack at a moment's notice.

The tunnel gave way to a wider room after a short distance. The stone surroundings gave way to fabricated walls and floor. On the right side of the room stood what appeared at first glance to be some sort of storage compartments. The left was dominated by large metal shutters above a computer console. A closed door stood opposite our entrance.

Zillah instantly turned to the console, Feivel appearing over her shoulder. I held out my hand and Elgan materialized, darting over to that side of the room as well. Celeste moved to the other side of the room to take a closer look at the compartments. I chose to keep closer to the center of the room, watching the entrances to the room.

I cast the occasional glance between the two women. The two Ghosts were scanning the console while Zillah had taken a seat and seemed to be examining the machinery. Celeste was opening doors, revealing that the other side was indeed storage. Fallen weaponry, as well as pieces of armor, filled many of the lockers. Others held what appeared to be salvage from the Devil's scavenging in the Cosmodrome. A sounds snapped my attention back over to Zillah.

“What was that?” I asked.

“No idea,” she responded. “I didn't touch anything.”

“That, uh, might have been me,” Elgan admitted sheepishly.

“What did you do, Ghost?”

Before he had a chance to answer, it became obvious. The metal shutters began to open and pull to the sides, revealing a large window. Zillah rose from her seat with a gasp, and Celeste and I hurried over to her side. The window was overlooking a cavern at least twice the size of the one we had left behind. The size was not what had caused Zillah's reaction, but what it held.

If SIVA had taken over the room before, it completely dominated here. The cavern was completely covered with the now-familiar red strands and black pyramid of nodes. Large cauldrons of molten material stood in several places around the room, strands of SIVA roping off of them, stretching to walls and the floor. Suspended in the middle of the room by massive cables was a large diamond shape constructed of the same slick black material as the nodes.

Dozens of Devil Splicers moved through the room, their actions indecipherable from here. The Priest we had seen before stood among them, seemingly directing the activities. As the shutters peeled back, a couple of the closest Fallen looked up in our direction and froze. They seemed shocked by our sudden appearance, but that passed quickly. Their mouths opened in cries that we could not here and gestured in our direction. Every Splicer down below turned, and then started flooding toward the door below us and disappearing from view in a door we could not see.

“Sorry,” Elgan squeaked, then disappeared back into my armor. 

Feivel vanished from sight as well. The three of us spread out around the room, taking position where we would not be immediately visible in case the Fallen came in firing. Our eyes trained on the closed door and we waited. They didn't make us wait long.

The door opened and Dregs poured in. They fired blindly as they entered, shots scoring the wall opposite the door. They began to fan out, and Celeste sprung into action. She drew her dusk bow, loosing a Void arrow at a Dreg near the center of the group. The arrow pierced the alien and it cried out before the Void energy blossomed out, streams of Light lancing out to tether the other Dregs to their fallen comrade. Zillah then released the energy she had been storing as well.

She launched her Nova Bomb which split into three parts, pounding the trapped Fallen. The aliens were vaporized under the assault, which shook the small room. The assault wiped out the aliens in the room and served to cause the rest to hesitate. Instead of charging in as their brethren had, the next line of Fallen troops attempted to fire through the doorway, blasts of energy streaking into the room and striking the wall. A Void Spike grenade tossed through the opening brought a satisfying scream as the hallway was momentarily illuminated in purple.

Seemingly realizing that trying to stay outside the room was not going to work out for them, the Fallen renewed their push. They poured into the room again, once again firing, but attempting to do so in a wider pattern than before. We were forced to dodge blasts this time, allowing them more time to try to take hold in the room. With no cover, there was nowhere to hide from the attacks. I was able to avoid most, but one struck, putting a strain on my shields. 

Celeste hit the Fallen with a smoke grenade, causing some chaos as she obscured their view. She then turned to the storage lockers behind her and began to pull. I realized after a second that she was trying to bring them down to create some cover. I targeted the Fallen nearest her, taking it out to give her a little breathing space. Zillah quickly darted over to help her.

I took advantage of the confusion in the Fallen ranks to wade into the middle of them. The first one disintegrated and I felt the familiar surge of the Force Barrier surrounding me, protecting me from any retaliatory strikes of the Devils. I was grateful for that barrier when I was suddenly struck with unbelievable violence and thrown across the room. I slammed hard against the wall and my vision went black for a moment. The remaining Fallen cleared the doorway as the Priest entered the room.

I groaned and struggled to rise. Before I had made it to my feet, the Priest was on me. Grasping me with all four arms, it lifted me from the ground and spun to the side, flinging me toward the window. The glass put up no resistance. It shattered and I could feel myself falling. In the distance I heard a voice call my name.

My hand lashed out and I barely managed to grab the window sill. My forward momentum stopped in an instant and I swung back, slamming into the wall hard. The blow knocked the wind out of me. I gulped air, reaching my other hand up to secure my hold on the window frame. I dangled there for a moment, glancing back over my shoulder.

Elgan's voice sounded in my ear, “Please don't fall.”

“Didn't plan on it,” I grumbled as I worked to pull myself back up through the shattered window.

I flopped back into the room, rolling down the computer monitor. The Fallen were all focused on Celeste and Zillah, apparently assuming I was no longer an issue. The two women had managed to take out several of the Splicers, but were still outnumbered. I saw my shotgun laying where I had dropped it when the Priest hit me. I scrambled over to it and scooped it up, quickly reloading it and then rejoining the battle.

A load of buckshot to the back reminded one of the Vandals that I was there. It stumbled forward, then whirled around, red SIVA starting to flow over it. Remembering what happened last time that happened, I fired twice more in quick succession. The Vandal staggered again, then fell over. I was forced to dodge a swipe from the Priest, who then opened fire with its shock rifle. I barely managed to avoid being shot, then returned fire with my last shell.

“Elgan, I need something with more ammo,” I yelled, diving to avoid another burst of fire from the Priest.

Zillah turned her attention briefly to the Priest and fired a few rounds from her scout rifle, diverting its attention from me for a moment. I heard the sound of a transmat and saw my Zombie Apocalypse machine gun materializing near me. I hefted the big weapon and was grateful to see that it was fully loaded. I depressed the trigger and ceramic-jacketed rounds peppered the Priest, which warped away from the barrage and into the hallway.

Zillah and Celeste managed to finish off the other Fallen. I heard the sound of the Priest coming through the shattered window. It had retreated completely into the SIVA chamber.

We ran to the empty frame and looked down. The Priest was leaning over an open node, letting the SIVA flow over him. He seemed to be trying to use it to heal or recharge. I turned to head down the hallway when Zillah stopped me.

“Claney, shoot the supports.”

“What?”

“The supports,” she said again, pointing through the window.

I followed her finger to see the large cables holding up the diamond shape in the center of the room and realized what she meant. I took aim with the machine gun and opened fire. The Priest flinched at the sound of gunfire, but stayed where it was when it realized it was not under attack. The bullets chewed through one of the support cables and it broke free. I changed my angle, leaning out the window a little to target the next one.

It snapped and the large object shifted. There was a loud groan and then a snapping sound as the others gave way from the strain. The construct tipped and fell. Unfortunately for the Priest, it didn't noticed until it was too late. The Fallen let out a cry of alarm, then was crushed beneath the structure as it crashed to the ground. The closest vat tipped over, spilling its molten contents onto the ground. Where it spilled, the SIVA burned. The rest of the stuff carpeting the ground began to writhe like a living thing in agony.

“We should probably go,” Celeste stated.

“Best idea I've heard all day,” I agreed.

The three of us quickly headed back up to the first chamber where Scott was preparing the charge to collapse the cavern. The light emanating from the tendril of SIVA moving upward was changing, growing more unstable. A few of them were starting to, for lack of better word, squirm. It was almost as if what was happening below was spreading upward and making the stuff uncomfortable. Suddenly, one of the ropes extended from one wall to the other, blocking our path.

A quick blast from the Curtain Call cleared it out of the way. More of the SIVA began to writhe like tentacles, reaching from the walls as if searching for something. We fell into a single-file line, passing through the center of the tunnel and trying to avoid the probing tech. I found myself wishing that I had learned to master Solar Light and become a Sunbreaker so I could just burn our way through. I heard a crash and then Celeste cried out behind me.

“Zillah!”

I turned around and saw that Zillah was on the ground, one of the tentacles wrapped around her ankle. It must have pulled her to the ground and she was struggling to get away from it. Celeste fired her hand cannon, missing with the squirming thing with her first shot, but clipping it with the second and punching through with her third. Zillah scrambled to her feet, then shot it one more time for good measure.

“Thanks,” she told Celeste with a nod.

“Anytime.”

“We should probably go faster,” I stated.

“Agreed,” Zillah replied.

We sprinted the remainder of the tunnel, occasionally ducking or twisting away from an outstretched tendril. I breathed a sigh of relief when we finally reached the first cavern. The SIVA in this room was flickering with the same instability we had seen in the tunnel, though none of it was moving. So far. I could see some sort of metal contraption in the center of the room that was not there before, but could find no sign of Scott-20. Where was the Warlock?

“Scott?” I called out, striding toward the object I assumed to be the bomb.

Celeste and Zillah called out for him as well, but received no response. Something wasn't right. I couldn't imagine that he would abandon us, and he had built something here. As I drew closer to it, I froze. There was a body lying on the other side of the device.

“Scott!”

I ran to where the Warlock was sprawled out on the ground. A large hole was punched straight through his helmet. It didn't look like damage from a Fallen weapon and there was no sign of SIVA on him. Some instinct screamed danger and I swept my arms out to the side, putting up a Ward. As the Void shield surrounded me, I heard something strike it and whirled around toward the source.

Jaeger-10.

The Hunter was perched on the far side of the room, staring through the scope of his sniper rifle. He slowly stood, striding out of my line of sight. Scott's Ghost appeared to my left, startling me.

“I was unable to emerge before,” it said. “I was afraid the Hunter would shoot me as well.”

“Can you get him back to his feet?” I asked without looking, watching for Jaeger to reemerge.

“Yes, I can,” the Ghost said and then set about its work.

“Jaeger's here,” I called to Celeste and Zillah. “He shot Scott. Keep your eyes open.”

I stepped out of my Ward, circling to try to get a view of the Hunter. I spotted him standing still with his back to me. Wary of a trap, I crept forward, eyes scanning for anything out of place. I was getting close enough to think I could make some sort of move against him when he spoke.

“I know you are there, Claney. No point in attempting to be stealthy any longer. Don't fear, I'm not going to attack you again. Not this time. Maybe the next.”

“You shot my friend. You took a shot at me. You've attacked me unprovoked twice now. Please, tell me why I should believe that.”

The Hunter raised his hands and then slowly turned around. He stepped to the side to reveal that he had been standing in front of a closed SIVA node.

“This,” he said gesturing toward it. “This was the missing piece, the one thing I didn't understand. But you lead me to it. I owe you a small measure of gratitude for that. As for your friend, I needed him out of the way briefly, and I'm sure his Ghost will be able to fix the damage. It was a clean shot.”

“You really need to start making some sense.”

“All will be revealed in time,” he said. “We still have a date with destiny, you and I. However, I believe it is about time for a different piece of my legend to be written.”

The SIVA node flickered to life and the top half split and opened. A cloud of red mites released, covering the surrounding area, including Jaeger. I expected the Hunter to move away, but instead he moved toward it, shoving his head into the opening.

He screamed suddenly, hand gripping the sides of the node, his body going rigid. I stared, thrown off by the turn of events. When I got over the shock, I did the only thing I could think to do. I shot him.

Once, then twice, the blast of the shotgun kicking him backward, forcing his body away from the node. He hit the ground and did not move. His Ghost did not emerge. It seemed a mercy under the circumstances.

I took several steps backward, then turned and ran to the others. Celeste and Zillah had taken up defensive positions near Scott and the device. Their weapons snapped toward me as I came into view.

“Where is he?” Celeste asked.

“Dead. Scott, glad to see you on your feet. Is your bomb ready?”

“Yes,” the Warlock nodded, his voice sounding like he was still shaking off the effects of the resurrection.

“Then let's blow this place.”

Scott started the detonation sequence and the four of us turned and sprinted back toward the surface. As we ran past the corpse of the Fallen we had killed earlier, I noticed thin lines of SIVA snaking from the larger tendrils, covering and infiltrating the body. No time to do anything about that. We cleared the cave opening and sprinted into open air. Sensor data began to flicker back onto my HUD as we got out of the interference. Quickly, we dove behind cover as the echo of an explosion came up through the hole in the rock wall. The ground shook and then the tunnel collapsed, blowing dust out and past where we hid.

“Good explosion, Scott,” I exhaled, leaning against the broken structure I had taken cover behind.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

 

Once the dust settled, I had Elgan scan Zillah and Scott-20 for any signs of SIVA contamination. Zillah had had the stuff wrapped around her ankle and Scott had been laying on the floor with a hole in his head. Thankfully, every scan he ran came back clean. Celeste had Whisper double check, just to be certain. No sign on either of them.

I glanced back to the cave entrance. There was still an obvious archway where it had stood, but less than a meter in you could see that it was closed off by rock. The SIVA threads that had been leading in lay severed. As I watched, they began extending thin tendrils, reaching out to each other and then connecting, becoming a complete a chain.

“What happened to Jaeger?” Zillah asked.

“He's dead,” I replied. “He was carrying on about destiny again and starting his legend, then he exposed himself directly to SIVA coming from an open node. I had to shoot him to get him off of it, and couldn't get to him because of the cloud of nanites. His Ghost never emerged.”

“Told you Hunters were crazy,” the Awoken Warlock remarked. I couldn't see the look Celeste shot her due to her helmet, but I guessed it wasn't friendly.

“And after I saved your life,” she grumbled. “Next time, the creepy tech gets to eat you.”

“What could have driven him to do such a thing?” Scott pondered aloud.

“No idea,” I shrugged.

“We should probably get back to the Tower, update the Vanguard,” Celeste stated.

“Indeed,” Scott responded, “they will need to know about the scanner modifications we made. Fireteams need to get to the other replication chambers as well.”

Scott stood first, the Exo seemingly having shaken off any lingering affects of being mostly dead. Celeste bounced up with an enthusiasm I suspected to be an attempt to make a point. Zillah and I were the last to get off the ground. I rose and offered a hand to the Warlock, who took it after a slight hesitation. I helped her to her feet then glanced around. No sign of any other Fallen in the area, for which I was grateful. I wasn't in the mood for another shootout just yet. 

“Yes, all that and tell them about a dead Guardian,” I muttered, looking again at the collapsed tunnel. That was not a conversation I was looking forward to having.

Celeste stepped closer and placed a hand on my arm. I glanced at it, then at her. I reached up and patted her hand with mind, giving it a little squeeze. The support was appreciated. It also reminded me of another difficult conversation I was going to have to have as well.

“Let's go,” I said finally. “Elgan, take me to the ship.”

My Ghost let out an acknowledging chirp, then the transmat took me.

The ride to the Tower was a short one. It did not offer a lot of time to replay the events in my head. I tried to imagine a different outcome to the encounter with Jaeger-10, but couldn't see any way I could have reached him without dangerous levels of SIVA exposure. Under different circumstances, maybe I would have been willing to put myself at risk. The Exo had willingly exposed himself, however. Did that justify not taking action? Did I let my own personal dislike of the Guardian influence my actions? It would be up for the Vanguard to decide.

We arrived at the Tower and walked into the Hall of Guardians as a team. It had been so long since I'd been part of an actual fireteam, it felt a little strange. It was a good strange. The others looked to me to make the initial report. I described the events that had transpired since we set foot in the Plaguelands. Scott's Ghost gave them the details on the sensor modifications. Each member of the team shared a few details that they had seen from their perspective that I had not. Of greatest interest to me was Scott's report about what happened after we left him behind. He'd never even suspected anyone was near before being shot. 

Finally, the Vanguard dismissed the other three, but asked me to remain behind. Scott-20 turned and walked out. Celeste stepped forward to protest, but I waved her off. I had expected this was coming and there was no way around it. I patted her shoulder and gave her a small smile. She paused, then turned and stormed out of the room. Zillah lingered briefly, amber yellow eyes inscrutable, before turning away as well. Behind them, a door I had never seen closed before closed shut, sealing the room. I stood at attention, waiting to see what would happen next.

“You killed one of my Hunters?” Cayde barked out as soon as it closed.

“Cayde,” Ikora warned.

The Exo turned his optics to her and then scoffed. “If it was one of your Warlocks, you'd have turned him into a toad already, Ikora.”

“Describe for us again the final moments of the encounter,” Zavala chimed in before I could respond, his voice steady and measured, silencing the others for the time being.

I relayed everything that happened after finding Scott on the ground. The shot that came after I had erected my Ward of Dawn, as if trying to get my attention. The brief conversation before the node opened. Firing on him to drive him away from it. Leaving him behind.

“And do you think you could have acted in any other way, given the circumstances?” Ikora questioned.

“I honestly don't know,” I admitted. “I was wondering the same thing myself. I couldn't come up with an answer.”

“You will have to leave your Ghost with us,” Zavala intoned. “We will view his recording of the events and see if there are any discrepancies. We will then decide if there needs to be a formal inquisition. Until then, you are relieved of Guardian duties and confined to the Tower.”

I opened my mouth to protest, then stopped. It would do no good for now. I held out my hand and Elgan materialized. He gave me a sorrowful look, then drifted slowly to Commander Zavala. He turned back toward me, then lowered himself down to the table. Cayde-6 crossed his arms over his chest and glared at me.

“Claney Beamard, you will be escorted back to your quarters, where you will be relieved of your armor and weapons for the time being,” Ikora informed me, the lack of the word Guardian in the address noticeable. “You will also be locked out of being able to access your weapon and armor stores. All will be returned to you, should we deem you did not act inappropriately.”

“You are dismissed,” Zavala stated.

The door behind me opened with a hiss. Two other Titans waited outside in black armor, helmets on, no insignia to give away their identities. With a last look at my Ghost, I turned and strode from the room and the two of them fell in alongside. 

The other three were waiting for me in the plaza. A look of concern crossed Celeste's face and I shook my head. One of my escorts gripped my arm and forcibly turned me away from them. I glared at him and pulled my arm free, which caused the other Titan to reach for her weapon. I rolled my eyes and let out an irritated huff, holding up my hands. They each grabbed an arm and kept hold of me the rest of the way to my room. Once inside, they forcibly stripped off my armor, leaving only the underlay.

After they were gone, I peeled that off as well. The protective suit was almost like a second skin now, I spent so much time in it. If I wasn't going to be leaving the Tower, however, it would feel oddly conspicuous to walk around in. I put on some casual clothes, feeling vulnerable and exposed. I had barely finished dressing when a knock sounded at the door. Honestly, that took a minute longer than I would have expected.

I opened the door to see Celeste waiting, which I had expected. Less predictable was Zillah and Scott standing behind her.

“I'd invite you in, but I doubt there's room for four,” I said.

“That's fine,” Celeste countered, “we wouldn't want to watch you sit around and mope in there anyway. Come on.”

She turned and strode toward the elevator. The two Warlocks seemed slightly surprised at the turn of events. I just gave a dry laugh and stepped out into the hall, closing the door behind me. I followed Celeste and the Warlocks followed me. We rode back up to the courtyard in silence, the others seemingly waiting for me to start the conversation. 

I waited until we had reached the open air. After we made it topside, I walked slowly to the railing, taking in the view of the Last City spread out beneath the Traveler. I placed my hands on the rail and leaned heavily on it. Celeste took up a spot on my right, Zillah on my left, with Scott standing on the far side of her.

“I'm confined to the Tower,” I announced eventually. “They've locked me out from being able to access any of my weapons and armor, and I am forbidden from engaging in any Guardian activities. They also kept Elgan with them to review his records of the events.”

“Complete and total Thrall spit,” Celeste muttered.

“No, I understand why they did it,” I sighed. “I killed a Guardian. Never mind that he attacked me first. Twice. Never mind that he had shot a member of my team.” 

“You didn't have any other choice,” she countered.

“Maybe. Maybe not,” I shrugged. “I just have to hope the Vanguard see things my way.”

We stood in silence for a while then, watching ships come and go, seeing other Guardians transmatting in and out of the Tower. I felt a little pang of jealousy, watching them go about their business. At least I wasn't a Hunter and feeling the call of the wilderness. As a Titan, the Tower was a comforting prison.

“Regardless of how it turns out,” I commented, breaking the silence, “we did good today. We made a good team and put a big dent in the Devil Splicer's plans.”

“Are you seriously about to launch into a corny, 'Rah, rah, go team,' speech?” Celeste asked. “That's just embarrassing.”

Zillah laughed at that. I hoped the look I gave her revealed the depth of her betrayal. I couldn't keep the expression long though, and had to let out a laugh myself. It did a good deal to release some of the tension.

“What about the War Cult?” Zillah questioned. “This sounds like it was something personal for this Hunter rather than something they ordered, but they still won't take kindly to one of theirs being killed.”

“I hadn't even had time to consider it,” I admitted.

“Well, you should consider it,” she warned, “and watch your back. Or, better yet, have someone watch it for you.”

“Too bad there isn't anyone around who would do that,” I responded in mock despair. “A disgraced Titan all alone. Not a friend in the world except those gathered here, and you three are probably ready to either get back to your books or go play in the woods, I'm sure.”

“That does sound pretty good,” Celeste smirked.

“Well, in that case, I do need to talk to you for a minute before you run off,” I told her. To the Warlocks, “You mind giving us just a minute?”

“Not at all,” Zillah replied, leading Scott just out of earshot.

I turned to look back over the City. Celeste did the same. Once I was sure we weren't going to be overheard, I began.

“I owe you another apology.”

“For which thing? There are so many I can think of,” she quipped.

“About what you said in the tunnels...”

“No, look, I...,” Celeste tried to interrupt, but I cut her off.

“No. You were right, Kiddo. I wanted to leave you behind because I didn't want to see anything else happen to you, but that's not okay. I wouldn't have done that with any other Guardian. It's part of the reason we haven't worked together more over the last few years. I still think of you too often as the girl you were instead of the woman you are now, and it isn't fair to you.

“You are a fantastic Guardian,” I continued, “and more than capable of holding your own out there. I honestly can't think of any other Hunter I'd rather have with me. I promise from now on I will make an effort to show you that respect.”

“Thanks, Old Man,” she replied with a smile.

“As for the sidekick thing, I didn't think that would bother you that much. I was just a little stumped on the introduction at that point. We're not a fireteam. Not partners. You're a Hunter, so it's not even a mentor and mentee relationship. Sidekick was just the first thing that came to mind at the moment.”

“You could try daughter,” she whispered.

“Really?”

“Of course, you idiot,” she answered, turning her head away. “You found me. You were responsible for me here. I can't remember anything of my life before, so you're the closest thing I have to family.”

“I thought you felt that way and that was the way I felt about it as well. We just hadn't ever actually said it.”

“Well now we did, okay?”

“Okay,” I answered with a smile. “Daughter it is.”

“Good. Now quit getting all mushy and sentimental,” she sniffed. “All this touchy-feely stuff will make sure they never give you your armor back. Maybe put you in charge of a daycare down in the City instead of let you go on patrol.”

I chuckled at that, then asked, “Speaking of taking care of kids, how is Astrid?”

“She's good. I need to go check in on her while we're here again,” she answered. “But, you probably shouldn't let her hear you call her a 'kid'. Doesn't like it all that much.”

“Got it,” I nodded. 

I caught Zillah glancing over toward us, and waved the Warlocks over. Zillah leaned up against the rail to my left again, but Scott took up a position facing the three of us.

“I should probably report to the Executor,” the Exo stated. “New Monarchy will want to know about the War Cult's involvement in this, even if it was only through a lone agent. With your working relationship with them, they will want to be prepared if there are troubles.”

“Be careful what you tell him about SIVA, Scott,” Zillah cautioned. “I want to trust that Hideo wouldn't be so foolish as to try to use it in his foundries, but it isn't a risk we should take lightly.”

“I am aware, Zillah,” he responded. “Everyone will know eventually, but I will not be frivolous with my data, and will provide strongly worded warnings in relation to the tech.”

“I meant what I said earlier about us making a good team. I'd be happy to work with you anytime, Scott,” I held out a hand and the Warlock took it in his.

“Likewise, Claney,” he replied. He gave a slight bow, then turned sharply and strode in the direction of the New Monarchy gathering area near the Speaker's chamber.

“I should probably go too,” Celeste pronounced. “I think I will go check on Astrid, see what trouble she has gotten into while I've been gone.”

“See ya, Kiddo,” I told her. “If you do end up leaving the Tower, come find me first, okay?”

“You're really going to milk this 'dad' thing for all it's worth, aren't you?” she teased. She gave me a quick hug, then looked at Zillah. She opened her mouth as if she was going to say something, but hesitated. “See ya,” she said eventually, then turned and left.

“You really were right about no one wanting to watch your back, weren't you?” Zillah snarked after Celeste was gone.

“Told you. Disgraced Titan, all alone.” I looked over at her. “So where to for you? Back to the Reef?”

“I really don't know,” she said, turning her gaze toward the Traveler as it hung silently in the sky. “I don't think so. I felt drawn there, once. I no longer feel that way.”

“And your quest to find Queen Mara or Uldren?”

“Pointless. Even if I found them both alive and brought them back to the Reef along with the head of every last member of the House of Wolves, they would never accept me. I'm a Guardian. This,” she gestured to her blue skin, “means nothing to them.”

I watched her for several seconds, her eyes never leaving the Traveler. I turned my eyes that way as well, wondering what it was she was searching for. In the apartment at the Vestian Outpost, she had mentioned that her connection to the Light was slipping. Perhaps she was trying to find it again. Spotlights from the City below began lancing upward, lighting the surface of the slumbering behemoth, avoiding the massive damage on its underside. Above, the sky began to darken as this part of the world settled in for another night.

“I'm sure you would be welcome back here at the Tower,” I suggested. “I hear there's a Titan about to get drummed out for killing another Guardian. That means two rooms should be coming open.”

“If that Titan gets thrown out, I'd have no reason to be here either,” she said.

I glanced over at her. “What?”

“If you're not here, I have no reason to be either,” she restated, her gaze moving from the Traveler to me. “You are the only one who has made me feel like I have a place anywhere. If they run you out of town, I go too. If they execute you... well, you'll be on your own there, but I wouldn't be sticking around here. When they remove the restrictions, I'll be fighting by your side. Face it, Titan, you just started yourself a fireteam.”

I was taken aback by that. First that she was saying she would stay with me regardless. Second, the fireteam line.

“Technically, Scott would be the one that started it,” I commented. “He invited me to join the two of you on that first mission.”

“Don't be pedantic, Claney,” she snipped. “It doesn't suit you.”

“Fair enough.”

With that, we both fell silent, turning our gaze back to the Traveler and the sky beyond as pinpricks of light began to appear.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

 

In the morning, the reality of the previous evening settled in a bit more. I woke slowly, confused as to what was off, then I realized that Elgan hadn't woken me like he normally did. I showered and went to dress and my armor wasn't waiting for me like usual. I put on a simple shirt, utility pants, and boots. I poured myself a bowl of cereal, settled on the couch, and looked for something to watch to pass the time. Crucible matches could be found most times throughout the day, and I was not disappointed now.

This morning's broadcast was focused on a new match type Lord Shaxx had instituted called “Supremacy”. I had yet to have an opportunity to try my hand at one, so I watched with interest. The match in progress was staged at The Anomaly and had reached the heavy ammo portion. Alpha Team was attempting to claim both drops with three members in the cave and two approaching the hangar location. They had come through the caverns and approached through the supply stacks. They were so intent on reaching it that they didn't notice movement from the other direction. A Titan from Bravo team leaped from the platform overlooking the area, slamming home with a Fist of Havoc. Arc energy ripped through the other Guardians, wiping them from the map and causing a small token to fall from each. The Titan scooped up the crests dropped by her fallen foes. The rest of Bravo quickly swarmed over and acquired the ammo when it became available.

From that point, Bravo took control of the match. They managed to eliminate the three Alpha members that had obtained heavy ammo without suffering any losses. When a Hunter from Alpha managed to snipe the Titan I had seen earlier, one of her teammates picked up her token before it could be claimed. The match clearly favored close quarters combat, and Bravo had come more prepared.

When it ended, I checked my messages. It took me a second to remember my password to sign in through the datapad. Normally Elgan just read them to me. I might need to learn to rely less on the little flashlight. Nothing from the Vanguard urgently requesting my presence, so they obviously hadn't decided to see things my way overnight. No threats of dire vengeance from the Rainbow Death Squad, so either FWC didn't know about Jaeger's fate, they didn't care, or it would be more subtle. There was a message from Zillah, which surprised me. I opened it.

Claney,

After our conversation last night, I went ahead and requested to be reassigned quarters in the Tower. The request was granted almost immediately. I will be heading out to the Vestian Outpost to begin the process of transferring my things back to Earth. Try not to pick any fights before I return.

Zillah

So, she was really cutting off her attempts to gain acceptance with the Awoken. It was a big move, and one I wondered if she would end up regretting. I decided that if we did start a fireteam, discovering what became of Mara and Uldren would be an unstated goal of the team. Not that I had a clue where to look. No matter. I could subtly poke around and see what came up.

The next message was from Celeste, stating that she had left the Tower to find something. It was oddly short and vague for her. She also felt the need to include a warning about picking fights. It really made me wonder who these people thought I was.

Celeste's message was the final one. I set the datapad aside and kicked up my feet, resting them on the coffee table in front of the couch. Another Crucible match was set to start, and I decided to enjoy my forced vacation. This match was a tense affair that came down to the time limit rather than overall score. A Warlock from Bravo went down under a hail of auto rifle fire. The shooter from Alpha and another member of Bravo, both Hunters, raced for the crest. Bravo's Hunter reached it a split second before the Hunter from Alpha and scored a denial. That put Bravo in the lead as time expired. 

I'd been so invested in the match that I threw my arms up in excitement and cheered at the end. Unfortunately, that sent the remains of my cereal scattering across the living room. Great. I slipped off the couch and dropped to my hands and knees to pick the stuff up.

Not quite the start I'd had in mind.

I watched a few more matches before deciding that sitting around staring at a screen all day was less enjoyable than some people made it sound. I ventured out into the Tower with no real destination in mind. I considered the hangar bar, but I had no desire to pass under the watchful eye of Lakshmi just now. No point to visit the Vanguard before they reached their decision. I had no desire to bring New Monarchy into my problems, or do something that would result in them being pitted against the FWC in some way. Like Zavala had said, a Faction War was the last thing we needed right now. Still, I drifted in that direction.

I didn't visit New Monarchy, however. It was something even less likely. I ended up at the Speaker's chamber.

The Vitalis dominated the room, spinning and twirling silently as always. The opposite side of the dome stood open, with the Traveler in full view. I glanced to my left, my eyes traveling up the stairs to where the Speaker was often found studying, but he was not present today. I considered making my way up to that platform, but it felt like sacrilege to do so with him not present. I wasn't even sure I wanted to be in the room if he wasn't there. Still, I stepped forward.

Overhead, the Vitalis slowed, the outer rings coming to a stop. Now only the central piece rotated around a hologram that looked like a representation of the Traveler. I felt oddly drawn to the small pedestals that ringed the large machine. Above each hovered smaller holographic images that resembled solar systems.

I found myself engrossed in the swirling lights. Something stirred in the back of my mind. It felt like some lost vestige of memory trying to awaken. Something familiar and important...

A loud clang sounded, startling me out of my reverie. I flinched and looked to the source of the sound, seeing the large rings sluggishly returning to life. When I looked back at the hologram in front of me, whatever I had felt before was gone. I stared at it a moment longer, then turned to leave. I was startled again at the sight of the Speaker standing in the doorway, seemingly watching me. Of course, it was impossible to truly tell behind that impassive mask of his.

Even though I hadn't been doing anything wrong, I suddenly had the feeling of a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. The Speaker stood in silence for several seconds before turning and heading up the stairs. He glanced back to me. No words were spoken, but I had the distinct impression that he was inviting me to follow him. So I did.

When I reached the top of the stairs, The Speaker was standing with his arms behind his back, hands lost in the volume of the sleeves of his white robes. He was facing toward the opening in the dome where the curve of the Traveler shone brightly. He introduced himself to every new Guardian by saying he spoke for the Traveler. I never fully understood what that meant. I wondered if he was in communion with it now somehow.

“Welcome, Claney,” he began. “It is rare that I receive two visits from the same Guardian this close to each other. Excepting the Vanguard, of course.” He paused, though I did not believe he was waiting for a response. He turned from the Traveler to face me, “You have served well since you were revived by your Ghost. Your deeds may not be as heralded as some others, such as the slayer of Crota and Oryx, but the City owes you a great debt.”

“Thank you, sir,” I replied.

“Because of that record,” he continued without acknowledging my statement, “it was with great surprise and sadness that I learned of your altercations with Jaeger-10. Particularly in regards to your ending the life of a fellow Guardian.” 

I should have figured that the Vanguard would have mentioned something to the Speaker. I thought I would have heard something from them regarding their decision before they took it to the Consensus, though. Guess I thought wrong.

“Sir, I...” I began, but he stopped me.

“I have reviewed the data myself, both your testimony and the memories of your Ghost. I am well aware of what transpired on the Moon and in the replication chamber. There is, of course, no corroboration for your version of events at the Vestian Outpost, since you had left your Ghost behind. A curious action. I am inclined, however, to take your word at face value. It is clear that the other Guardian was the aggressor for the most part.

“There is so much Darkness out there,” he continued, turning back toward the Traveler, “and we are so few. The death of a Guardian is a dimming of the Light that cannot be restored. Worse than that though, would be a corruption of that Light. Another Dregden Yor. It is my belief that you prevented just such an occurrence with your actions in that cave. I made my recommendation to the Vanguard that you be restored to service immediately and without censure. Of course, the decision rests with Commander Zavala.”

I let the words settle in. “Thank you, sir,” I repeated.

The time, the Speaker nodded. He let out a sigh, then bent and opened a book at his desk, then asked, “Is there anything else that you need, Guardian?”

“No, sir,” I replied. I quickly made my way down the stairs. Casting a last glance at the images surrounding the Vitalis, I left the chamber.

The Speaker's recommendation gave me hope that things would be resolved quickly. It would be shocking if the Vanguard disregarded his opinion. I knew Zavala and felt I could say with certainty how he would go. Cayde might be upset that it was a Hunter that died, but I had a feeling he would come around as well. Ikora, however, was harder to read. Warlocks could be a tricky lot. They always seemed to have their own way of looking at the world that didn't always gel with what might seem obvious to others.

Thinking of Warlocks, I considered dropping in on Scott-20. If we were really going to put together fireteam, and have a full team of six, he was someone I wanted to be a member. I decided to wait to bring it up until the situation was fully resolved though. No point in making plans that might come to naught.

Since I was nearby, I decided to visit with the New Monarchy representative. No, I didn't want to bring them in to anything that might happen with the War Cult, but I remembered that the Crucible handler was selling new wares, so I decided to see if New Monarchy had changed up their offerings as well. One, there might be something good. Two, it was a way to pass the time, and, three, I was currently avoiding the two places I would have to go to check what else the Vanguard might have available.

The rep today was someone I hadn't met before. As usual, there were a few people in the area, all wearing the white triangle with three red bars of the New Monarchy. I didn't draw as much attention as I would have if I'd strode up in full armor, but Guardians do still tend to be recognizable. Especially Titans as we tend to run a little large. Whether our Ghosts were drawn to large skeletons, or if it had something to do with whatever the Light did to bring us back, who could say? Regardless, I received several nods of respect from the adherents, and a warm greeting from the representative.

“Hello, Guardian. What can I do for you today?” the man asked. It was not uncommon to find Executor Hideo himself here welcoming Guardians himself, but today he was nowhere to be seen.

“Yeah, hi. I'd heard that some of the vendors in the Tower were carrying new stock these days. I was wondering if New Monarchy was offering any updated merchandise.”

“Certainly,” he replied with a smile, then seemed to size me up. “Titan?”

“Got it in one.”

“Right. Yes, well, give me a moment,” he pulled out a datapad and tapped a few things, then presented it to me.

Armor and weapons were displayed on the screen. The new armor was called the “High Command” series. It looked like re-purposed Pandion armor, splattered with the white triangle. Quite frankly, it made me think of a quilt. I'll pass. The weapons were more interesting, however.

It seemed the Monarchy had developed a fascination with speed. Nearly everything on offer featured high rates of fire. The shotgun, Bad Counsel IV, was similar to the Burden of Proof that had served me well before. I'd just bought a shotgun however, and, despite the low ammo count, the Curtain Call still seemed like a nice weapon. I preferred my machine guns to hit harder than the specs for the First Citizen IX suggested. The stat profile for the Assembly II looked intriguing, however, so I decided to put in an order.

“Very good, Titan,” the representative smiled. “If you could just have your Ghost complete the transaction?”

Ghost. Right.

“Yeah, tell you what, I'll have to get back to you on that one,” I said, handing the pad back. “Save one for me though.”

I left the baffled vendor behind. I don't know why I had thought I could pick something up, given that my armor and weapons were all currently locked away from me. Stupid. Frustration at the entire situation settled in then, and I was seething when I reached Scott's study. I did my best to clamp it down though, no point in taking it out on the Exo.

I entered the room, and Scott-20 looked up, his red optics taking a moment to focus. I was struck by the disconnect between his exterior and his personality. All Exos were originally built for war, and Scott's appearance seemed designed to provide a level of intimidation. His personality was about as threatening as one of the frames out in the hall, however. Perhaps it was a result of one of his memory wipes.

“Claney?” The Exo sounded surprised to see me. 

He set down the book he had been reading and move to stand. I waved him back down.

“Hey, Scott. Thought I'd swing by and check on you. You know...” I tapped a finger to the side of my head.

“Ah, yes. I am doing quite well, thank you. No lingering side effects or signs of damage that could not be repaired. Nothing to indicate any SIVA infection was missed, either.”

“Good, good,” I replied, glancing around the room. Scott's study was immaculate, every tome and paper in place. “Any response from the Executor about your report from the Plaguelands?”

“Nothing as of yet. I'm certain there will be a large number of questions eventually, however.”

“I'm sure.” A pause. “Mind if I stick around for a bit?”

“Not at all,” he replied. “Though I do not have another chair to offer.”

“Floor's good,” I stated, lowering myself to the ground. “What were you working on?”

“Not really 'working on' anything at the moment,” he lifted the book from the desk. “Just reading up on Fallen Splicers. If we are going to be dealing with this particular branch of them, I thought it best to keep informed.”

I nodded, and he continued.

“One thing I find fascinating is a brief parallel in human history. Some pre-Golden Age records we have pieced together show there were groups who were very interested in modifying the human body in the same way. Cybernetics was seen as the next big step in human evolution. There is much speculation that Exos are a result of similar thinking. Of course, we have no real answer to that. At any rate, it seems the appearance of the Traveler and the changes that came then stamped out most interest in splicing in human culture. The recent transmission outbreak seems to be the remains of a more subtle modification program instituted by Clovis Bray, proving it did not die out entirely.”

“Well, if the Devil's give anyone the idea that trying it again with SIVA sounds like a good idea, remind me to punch them,” I responded, which brought a chuckle from the Exo.

“I do not much imagine peg legs and protruding clusters coming in high demand,” he replied dryly.

“Let's hope not. Well, don't let me keep you from it.” I indicated a book that had caught my eye as I sat. “Mind if I do a little reading as well?”

His brow-plates raised in surprise that he hadn't quite been able to hide. I swear most Warlocks just assume Hunters and Titans are functional illiterates.

“Of course,” he said, then watched with interest as I reached over and carefully removed a book on weapon crafting from the shelf.

The book stood out to me because it looked new. After I spotted it, I noticed others that looked that way as well, but this had been the first one to draw my interest. The contents were all related to weaponry built and improvised by people during the Dark Age following the Collapse. I'd read a couple dozen pages when I realized someone was calling my name.

It was coming from the Tower Public Address system. The Vanguard was ready to see me.

“Wish me luck,” I told Scott. I started to return the book, then thought better of it. “Mind if I borrow this?”

“Not at all. Just, try not to damage it, please.”

It took everything I had not to sprint to that room. As ready as I was to find out what they had decided, I wanted to maintain my composure. Even so, I don't know that someone could move any faster and still have it referred to as walking. I descended the stairs and was met by two armored escorts. They walked with me the rest of the way to the Hall of Guardians, and once again the large doors shut. I stood at attention and waited.

“Claney Beamard,” Commander Zavala began solemnly, “as a Guardian, you have served with distinction for many years. The Vanguard values that service. It has been a long time since we have had to consider the actions of a Guardian who intentionally took the life of another born of the Traveler. That person was someone who had once served with distinction as well, so past merit plays no part in the decision we have made today.”

“In the interest of total transparency,” Ikora picking up where he left off, “we want you to be aware that we brought the Speaker in for his counsel. The Faction heads were not consulted. While the Speaker's opinion is obviously of great value, this decision was made by the three of us.”

“We reviewed your reports of each incident,” Cayde joined, crossing his arms over his chest, “as well as took a look at your Ghost's recordings. As far as can be determined... you're in the clear.”

A wave of relief rolled over me then, but I managed to contain it.

“We could find no fault with the way you handled the situation,” Zavala again. “Your team was placed in jeopardy by the action of the deceased, and he placed himself in the ultimately fatal situation. You are to allowed to return to full duty status immediately. All restrictions to weapons and armor are lifted as well.”

“Welcome back, Titan,” Ikora added, with the barest hint of a smile. “Someone has been anxious to see you.”

Elgan materialized and zipped to me. He flew in quick circles around me, and I couldn't help the grin that came to my face. Zavala informed me that I was dismissed, and we headed back to the courtyard. Once topside, Elgan darted skyward.

“Oh, it feels so good to be let out of that room!” he exclaimed. “I thought your armor was cramped, but the little box they kept me in there made if feel luxurious. It did smell a little better than you, I'll admit.”

“How would you know? You can't even smell anything.”

“Call it a hunch,” he retorted. “So... what did I miss?”

I relayed everything that had happened since I was forced to leave him behind. He told me about the questioning from the Vanguard. We returned to my room, and I set Scott's book carefully on the table. Someone had returned the armor I'd been wearing, as well as my weapons, to the room and they were laying on the bed. All was right in the world again for at least a few minutes.

I had Elgan send a quick message to Celeste, Scott, and Zillah letting them know what had been decided. Then he checked for any new messages and found one. And the day got that much better.

Iron Banner.

It was the official announcement that the Iron Banner was returning in a few days with a change. Rather than Lord Saladin coming to the Tower, he was inviting every Guardian to Felwinter's Peak. We would be battling to celebrate the Iron Lords by using the Iron Temple as our launch point. Time to start getting ready.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

 

The next several days went by quickly. Zillah's move went without a hitch. The Awoken were more than happy to see a Guardian leave and provided plenty of frames to help with the packing process. Frames handled most of it on the Tower side as well, though I did pitch in a little. There were no more immediate mentions of forming a permanent fireteam, but Zillah, Celeste, Scott-20, and I did decide to take on the Iron Banner together. After the week was up we could always deal with the other part of it if we wanted to.

The day arrived and we all set off to the Iron Temple. I had not been able to travel here often enough yet for the excitement of it to wear off. Dropping in and seeing the Temple, knowing its connection to history and the Iron Lords was still awe inspiring. Also impressive was the size of the crowd that had gathered. Clearly, we weren't the only Guardians looking forward to the start of the activities.

At the appointed time, the bells inside the Iron Temple began to sound, then a second sound drew our gaze to the neighboring peak. When we had visited before and met with Shiro-4, the massive doorway across the bridge had been closed. Now it slowly creaked open, allowing us to begin to cross over. Lord Saladin stood before the familiar flaming shield bearing the wolf and ironwood tree emblem of the Iron Banner, but this time he was not alone. He was flanked by Aasim-7 and a figure mostly clad in green and white. She wore a Hunter's cape, a crested helm similar to that of the legendary Saint-14, and had the Ironwood tree emblazoned on her tunic.

Lady Efrideet?

Gasps and murmurs rose up from the assembled Guardians. As far as everyone had known, Lord Saladin had been the last surviving Iron Lord. Between basic history, hearing about the legends of those figures each time Banner rolled around, and some of the more... romanticized tellings of Lord Saladin's lonely vigil that had been told, it was a known fact that he was the sole survivor. Yet here was proof that that had not been exactly true. Saladin raised his hands and the crowd quieted.

“Greetings, Guardians,” he called out. “Welcome to the Iron Banner. For countless years now, we have held this tournament, allowing Guardians to test their full Light against each other, and I have overseen as you have proved yourselves worthy to carry that Light against the strongest foes. Each time I came back to the Tower, but now that is changing.

“A new generation of Iron Lords has begun with Lord Aasim. The Iron Temple is open and once again Felwinter's Peak rings with the voices of Guardians. As such, I felt it fitting to bring the Banner back here, back to the home of the Iron Lords. We will also be changing the match type. No longer will the Iron Banner exclusively feature Control matches. This week, the match type is Supremacy. The next change is that I will no longer handle the Iron Banner personally. I present, returned to us once more, Lady Efrideet.”

A brief murmur rose again at the confirmation of the woman's identity. She stepped forward and placed her hands firmly on her hips, head tilting side-to-side as she looked over the crowd. Once the voices had settled once more, she spoke with a voice that sounded surprisingly young.

“Hello, Guardians. Light and peace to all of you. It is an honor to be here once more and see this many gathered in this place. I am sure that you have many questions for me, but right now is not the time to address them. As Lord Saladin said, there are many changes occurring. One thing that will not change is this: Strength in the Light is what matters most in the Iron Banner and yours will be tested. Make the Iron Lords proud. The Iron Banner is now officially open.”

Lord Saladin and Lord Aasim descended from the platform, Guardians parting to allow them to pass. Ghosts emerged to pick up bounties and arena assignments. Soon, Guardians began disappearing one by one as they transmatted up to their ships. Elgan returned from getting our assignment with his shell spinning happily. That told me we at least were not assigned to Pantheon. He knew I hated having matches there.

“Caloris Basin,” he chirped. “Mercury. I'll be sure to pack the sunscreen.”

Vertigo. An interesting arena where the surroundings could potentially be as dangerous as the other Guardians if one was not careful where they put their feet. Some tight corridors, but areas that were prone to sniper fire as well. It was a good location.

“Did it tell us who we were paired up with yet?” Celeste asked.

“Not yet,” Elgan replied. “That will be determined when we arrive.”

“Let's get going then,” I responded.

Celeste and Scott both nodded and their Ghosts materialized. They quickly transmatted out of the area. Zillah, however, had not responded. She was not even looking in our direction. Instead, her focus was directed toward Lady Efrideet.

“Where did you go?” Zillah whispered, taking a step toward the new Iron Banner handler. “And why does your Light feel like that?”

“Zillah?” I asked.

“Hmm?” she responded, turning to look at me.

“Everything alright?”

“Yeah, fine,” she replied distractedly.

“You seem a little out of sorts.”

“No, I just...” she stopped, glancing back toward Efrideet, then shook her head. “It's nothing.”

“You heard the assignment, right? Mercury?”

“Right,” she nodded. “Meet you there.”

I gave her another look, trying to read her. Finally, I transmatted to my ship. The last thing I saw before my surroundings changed was Zillah taking another step toward Lady Efrideet.

…

By the time I made it to Mercury, several ships were already in orbit. A few more popped in after I arrived. I maneuvered in near Celeste and Scott's ships. Elgan materialized, his shell splitting open as the Ghost began receiving transmissions.

“Rosters and match order are in,” he stated. “We go second and picked up a Titan and a Warlock. Eli-3 and Cheyah Palpatine. Looks like they are both fond of Solar Light.”

“And who are we up against first?”

“Doesn't look like a regular team of six either. Elias Elder, Sunbreaker. A pair of brothers, Tristan and Theran, a Striker and a Defender. A group of three, Titan, Hunter, and Warlock. Hmm... Titan heavy lineup. I foresee much punching,” he mused.

“Sounds like a good time to me,” I quipped.

“Yes, I'm sure it does,” he deadpanned.

“Zillah arrive yet?”

“Not as of yet,” the Ghost replied.

“She seem like she was acting weird to you back at the mountain?”

“To determine weird you would have to have seen normal” he retorted. I chose not to dignify that with a response, so he continued talking, “She did seem to be affected by the appearance of Lady Efrideet for some reason. It wasn't familiarity though. Zillah's records indicate she was revived more recently than you, so there is no way she has any personal history with the Iron Lords.”

“Well, let me know when she gets here,” I told him. “For now, let's go ahead and open up a channel to the other members of the team.”

Elgan reached out to the four other members of the team who were present. Along the bottom of my screen, small icons representing each appeared. Celeste and Scott responded right away. Eli-3 joined the conversation shortly after, with Cheyah chiming in last. 

“Glad you managed to make it, Old Man,” Celeste stated. “Where's our other friend?”

“She should be right behind me. Don't worry, she'll be here,” I replied.

“It would seem that it is fortuitous that we go second,” Scott-20 added.

“Scott. She'll be here.”

“I take it the three of you are already acquainted,” a new voice chimed in, masculine and holding the hint of the artificial that always carried under the surface with Exos. Must be Eli-3.

“Yes, sorry,” I replied, “I suppose we should get introductions out of the way. I'm Claney Beamard, Defender Titan. The other two are Celeste Etain, a Nighstalker and my daughter, and Scott-20, Stormcaller, who we have worked with a few times recently. Another Warlock, a Voidwalker named Zillah Arvid, should be arriving any moment now.”

“I'm Eli-3, Sunbreaker,” the Exo Titan responded. “Hopefully your friend isn't late.”

“Cheyah. Sunsinger,” the fifth member of our team added curtly and then cut the signal.

“Well she sounds friendly,” Celeste muttered.

“Celeste,” I warned.

“What?” I could just imagine her batting her eyes innocently.

Twelve ships broke orbit and dropped down toward the surface to deposit their Guardians in the arena. The first match of the Iron Banner was underway. I checked over my gear with Elgan, making sure everything was in place. Given the CQB nature of the Supremacy match type, I opted to go with an auto rifle and shotgun combination. Even though the ammo count was a little low, the added kick of the Curtain Call would be better here than the Burden of Proof. That paired with my Haakon's Hatchet should work well. If not, I had him keep my Nirwen's Mercy prepped as a backup.

Two minutes into their match, Zillah finally arrived. Her shipped dropped from NLS and drifted in next to everyone else. I had Elgan mute the team line and open up a private channel to her.

“You were starting to worry us.”

“You thought I wasn't coming?” she asked. “What have I ever done or said that would make you think I would just not show up?”

“I knew you'd be here. There was just a little concern that you were late,” I replied, taken aback by the tone in her voice. “You sure everything is okay?”

“Yeah, fine,” she stated, then closed the private channel and joined the team-wide communication. “Sorry I'm late. Something came up back at Felwinter's.”

The first match ended on score rather than time limit. It looked like it had been a fairly one-sided affair. I wondered briefly if that meant that one team in our group was going to be very challenging or if it was a fluke. I did not have long to ponder that though, as the arena was prepped and it was our turn to head down. As a group, we dropped to a lower orbit, then transmatted down. We were designated as Alpha Squad. 

As we found our footing, I looked around, taking in the strange Vex architecture. As far as I know, no one knows what this place is or what the Vex used it for. When it was discovered, there were also several abandoned Cabal ships slaved to its position, with no sign of the inhabitants of said ships. Some have questioned the wisdom of using this location because of that, though none are brave enough to do it within earshot of Lord Shaxx. I wonder what would happen if an army of Vex suddenly appeared in the middle of a Crucible match one day. That or twelve Guardians suddenly vanished never to be seen again.

I also got my first look at our two teammates for this round of the Iron Banner. Eli-3 was one of those people you would mark as a Titan even out of armor, large and imposing. He was also a walking advertisement for Dead Orbit, wearing their latest armor and mark and holding their newest auto rifle and shotgun. Must be a true believer in the cause. Cheyah was his physical opposite, though there was a confidence and strength to her stance that made me doubt that many people would give her trouble. She wore two hand-cannons and had a sniper rifle strapped to her back. She was still staying off of the team channel.

I took a second to open another private channel to Zillah. “I know you well enough now to recognize that something is bothering you. You've dropped your guard too much to go back to the way you were when I first met you without giving something away. If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine. Just know that you can. Probably after we're done here, though.”

She turned and gave me a look that was unreadable behind her helmet. I shrugged my shoulders, which resulted in her shaking her head then turning it in a way that probably meant she was rolling her eyes at me. Celeste gestured questioningly at me with her hands and I waved her off. Then the match began.

“I'm going to 'B',” Eli said, peeling off to the right.

It was a solid strategy and a pretty common point to try to hold, even if it was not a Control match. It was a central location, was one of the higher points of the arena, and gave a team control of the Vex gate which limited access to the floating platform. Sure, a Guardian could still jump out there, but it would be easier to respond to a sniper taking position out there if you could just appear behind them at any moment.

“That works,” I said, following quickly. Celeste, Scott, and Zillah headed in that direction as well. I did not see which way Cheyah went.

Bravo had clearly had the same idea in mind, as multiple red dots appeared on my motion tracker on approach to the location. They were coming from two directions, up the outer stairs similar to us as well as through the middle of the arena. Eli had opened fire across the platform, so I turned my attention to the narrow corridor leaving up from the lower mid-section. A head in a copper-colored Warlock hood crept into view and I opened fire with the Hatchet. Several rounds found the mark, and I heard a shockingly high pitched scream as the figure dropped back out of view.

“Did... did that guy really just scream in terror?” Celeste asked with a disbelieving laugh that was cut short as she had to duck behind cover.

Three Titans came into view from the opposite side of the platform. One dropped under a barrage of bullets from Eli-3's Extremophile. His crest dropped, but was quickly picked up by one of his allies, denying us a point. His body disappeared in a flash, transmatted out. The motion had drawn my eyes in that direction, so I did not see the small object flying up from the side until it was almost too late.

“Grenade!” I called out as the object tumbled through the air. It anchored to a section of wall in front of me and erupted in a torrent of Arc energy. Lightning grenade.

The Light energy ripped in front of me harmlessly, but it tore into Eli, flinging him hard against the wall. He vanished in a flash of light, dropping a crest. Before I could react, one of the Titans had snatched it up, scoring the first points of the match. I opened fire with my auto rifle, dropping his shields and sending him scrambling. The other Titan provided covering fire with his pulse rifle, forcing me to move as my shields dropped. 

I scrambled behind a low section of wall as if I was going to take cover. Zillah took a shot, drawing the Titan's attention. I quickly pulled the Curtain Call off my back with one hand and slapped the Hatchet on with the other. Shotgun at the ready, I jumped and pushed myself upward with Lift. The arch of the boosted jump carried me right toward the other Titan, who had been caught off guard. I opened fire at close range as I fell toward him, dropping him and securing a crest. I had little time to enjoy it though, as his partner returned the favor, shooting me in the back before I had time to recover.

To avoid unnecessary risk to Ghosts, Guardians are transmatted out of Crucible arenas as soon as they are registered as being down. There are additional Ghosts on hand to help speed the revival process, getting the Guardians back into action as soon as possible and to help shrug off the lingering affects of being mostly dead. The Guardian is then returned to the arena, usually to an area that is either clear of bodies or close to their allies. Of course, it does not always quite work that way.

Several points were scored before I returned to the fray, with Bravo taking the lead. They had also managed to take control of the B location. Matches here often revolved around gaining and losing that spot, so I was not too concerned yet. I swapped back to my auto rifle and was checking my HUD for the location of my teammates when Zillah suddenly appeared beside me.

“Who got you?”

“That Hunter,” she grumbled. “Managed to Blink around the outside ledges without falling and knifed me in the back.”

“At least three of them are still on B,” I heard Celeste calling out, “Not sure where the others are, though.”

As if on cue, three red blips appeared on my tracker. They were scattered, all generally moving in the direction of the portal. I set off after the closest one at a sprint. I often found my best success in the Crucible if I just threw myself head first into things. Not that I had the best standing in the Crucible, but it worked better for me than trying to hang back and do things more strategically.

“I see them, they're heading that way,” I announced.

I closed the gap and caught sight of the person I had been chasing. One of the other Titans. Carlton. I opened fire, bullets striking his kinetic shields and throwing him off balance. He staggered a moment and ducked behind a piece of the rubble left behind by the Cabal when they had found this site. He returned fire, but I had the advantage. He went down under a hail of bullets and disappeared. Once again, I had little time to do much though, as one of the others had converged on the gunfire and I went down without seeing who had shot me.

I dropped back into the match to the sound of a hammer striking a forge. I knew each team had a Sunbreaker, but was not sure who had called on their Hammer of Sol. I only had enough time to turn my head when a flaming hammer came streaking through the room and I died yet again. That was not the best way to get the question answered.

Once again, I transmatted in, gritting my teeth. This was getting annoying. I sprinted inside, heading toward the lower central platform leading up to the portal. I spotted Elias, the Sunbreaker that had killed me before and took him out, getting a measure of revenge and gathering his crest. Scott came up around the central column, apparently he had been following the Titan.

“How're you doing?” I asked, glancing at my motion tracker.

“Not well would be the understatement of the year,” he complained.

Bravo's Hunter, Sierra, came around the left side. I reacted before Scott, opening fire with my Hatchet. She dodged to her right and vanished from sight, seemingly dropping through the gap in the floor. I was about to laugh when she suddenly reappeared, having grabbed the cable connecting the two platforms and flipped back up at an unexpected angle. She unloaded her hand-cannon, dropping poor Scott-20 before he had a chance to move. I opened fire, but she landed at a sprint and disappeared behind a column. My only consolation was that she had to flee quickly and was not able to collect Scott's crest. I picked it up, scoring a denial.

Cheyah came from the right side and blew past me, leaping up onto the platform and heading up to B without a word. I could not remember actually hearing anything from her the entire match, now that I thought about it. I jumped up behind her and followed her toward the upper platform. The sound of hammers rang our again.

Knowing that Elias could not possibly be charged again, I called out, “Get 'em, Eli!”

“That wasn't me,” he replied.

“Then who...?”

Suddenly, lighting streaked across my field of view, cutting off my question and taking out Cheyah. I looked in that direction and saw Tristan, one of the brothers. He was holding a hammer made of Arc energy. That was new.

I flung myself backward with Lift, barely avoiding another hammer. I shook off my surprise enough to ready a suppressor grenade which I flung at the opening. He stepped around the corner, prepared to throw more Arc Light at me when the grenade went off and the hammer disappeared from his hands. A shot rang out from the platform and he dropped then disappeared. Celeste poked her head around the opening and waved. Tristan's crest rolled down the corridor and I scooped it up.

Things continued like that for most of the match. It was a very back-and-forth affair, with neither team able to gain a solid advantage over the other. I was transmatting back in after getting taken out by their Warlock when there was a loud burst of static in my ear.

I bent over, clamping my right hand over my ear. “What was that, Elgan?”

“Don't blame me,” the Ghost protested. “It was a strong, directed signal coming from somewhere else.”

“You still could have kept it from doing that to me ear, couldn't you?”

“Well, sure, if I'd known it was coming. I was a little busy watching you get killed over and over again.”

He went silent for a moment, then came back on the line. “Signal incoming again. It is a recorded message, directed just to you. Seems to be on some sort of loop. Give me a second.”

Another voice came over the line then, and I froze. Impossible.

“Claney,” the voice rasped. “You left me for dead, Claney. I told you we were not yet finished. Meet me at the coordinates included in this message.”

Jaeger-10.

“Check that for authenticity,” I told Elgan.

“It checks out,” he replied, “it's him. Somehow. And there are coordinates included with the message. Calculating... He's on... Venus?”

“We left him on Earth, buried in a cave in the Plaguelands. How and why is he on Venus?”

“I don't know,” Elgan admitted. Normally I would mock him for that answer, but the situation didn't call for it.

I was so distracted by the unexpected turn of events that I didn't notice the red blip approaching me rapidly. My first indication that there was anyone near me was a sword made of Void energy entering my back and emerging from my chest. As I fell, I turned my head. It was the other Titan brother, Theran. He was carrying a sword and shield and his armor was covered by another protective layer, all made from Void Light. Who were these guys?

Unfortunately for my team, that was the Nail in the Coffin. My death gave Bravo the victory. Each of us was transmatted up and out of the arena.

“What was that, Old Man?” Celeste questioned. “Why did you freeze like that?”

I hesitated. “Just a surprising bit of news. There's something I need to go take care of.”

“What about the Banner?” she asked.

“It will have to wait,” I replied with a shrug. “I'm sure you will have no trouble picking up another Guardian to finish up here.”

“Hold it right there,” she responded with suspicion in her voice. “No way would you just walk away from the Iron Banner like that. What's going on?”

“Kiddo, you wouldn't believe me if I told you.”

“Try me.”

“No,” I stated with finality. “I'll be back soon.”

“Elgan,” Celeste addressed my Ghost, a threatening tone in her voice.

“Don't say a word,” I warned him.

“Well?”

“It was Jaeger-10,” the little traitor squealed. “Jaeger called him from Venus.”

“How is that even possible?” she questioned.

“No clue,” I said, “but it's him.”

“And you were just going to... what? Go see him and get yourself killed?” the Hunter demanded.

“What's going on?” Zillah joined in. Great.

Scott and Eli were added in as well. Celeste must be patching everyone in. Or maybe it was Elgan.

“Oh, not much,” Celeste snarked, “other than the fact that the Hunter dad killed is apparently still alive, called him out, and he was about to ditch us and go see him?”

“What?” Zillah interjected with a mix of shock and annoyance. I could guess which was aimed at me.

““Wait,” Eli-3 chimed in, “you did what? You killed a Guardian?”

“Oops,” Celeste said sheepishly.

“Yeah, long story. War Cult Hunter. Tried to kill me. Exposed himself to SIVA.”

A low whistle.

“So he survived being shot, being exposed to SIVA, and having a cave dropped on him, and you thought you would just go waltzing up to him?” Zillah asked. “You were really just going to go off on your own?”

“Yes,” I replied.

“Oh you stupid, stupid Titan!” the Warlock fumed.

“What do you hope to gain by another confrontation?” Scott asked.

“To end this thing once and for all,” I stated. “This needs to end. Besides, what's the worst that could happen? It's not like I could get in trouble for killing him a second time, could I?”

“That would be...” Scott mused, “unprecedented.”

“What's the worst that could happen?” Celeste questioned in disbelief. “You die? You get infected with that stuff and then die?”

“So what should I do then? It's clear he isn't going to let this go until one of us is dead.”

“Call the Vanguard?” Zillah suggested. “Let someone else handle it? What we've been telling you to do when it comes to this lunatic?”

“Let someone else handle it? I'm sorry, did I miss the part where I stopped being a Guardian?”

“No,” she said frustrated, “but this is too personal for you. You haven't been making wise decisions.”

“I'm going.”

“Then I'm going with you,” the Awoken Warlock replied.

“Me too,” Celeste added. “If you think we would actually let you go alone, Zillah was right and you are stupid.”

“I have some unfinished business with this Hunter as well,” Scott said. “Count me in.”

“And I can't talk any of you out of it?” I asked with a sigh.

They all replied with variations of no.

“Sorry Eli, Cheyah,” I addressed the two members of our Iron Banner team. “Looks like you are going to have to find another team.”

Cheyah's ship broke orbit without a word. Eli, however, surprised me.

“I could come with you,” the Exo Titan said. “I have no love for the War Cult, and you could probably use an extra gun.”

“Sure thing,” Celeste answered before I could turn him down. “The more the merrier, I say.”

“Well, I guess we're all off to Venus,” I said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The guest characters in this chapter were all loaned to me by fanfiction.net users when this was originally published over there. Elias Elder is the property of a guest reviewer.  Eli-3 belongs to Eli8300.  Sierra, Alex, and Carlton came from Amberstar of Thunderclan.  Cheyah, Tristan, and Theran belong to Order and Chaos - Qui Iudicant (who I believe is on this site, but I don't know his username here).


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

 

Once we were on our way, I opened a line to Celeste.

“Why exactly did you tell Eli to come along?”

“Weeelllll,” she drawled out a reply, “I was kind of hoping that adding someone else in the mix would have convinced you to change your mind. Clearly I should have been less subtle.”

“I don't recall a lot of subtlety in that conversation,” I retorted.

“Subtlety doesn't seem to work well with you,” she tossed back.

“Maybe I pick up on it and choose to ignore it.” I went silent for a moment, searching for the right words. “I need to see this through, Kiddo.”

“No mater what?” she asked. “No matter who gets dragged in or hurt? That doesn't sound like you, Old Man.”

“This Hunter attacked me. He threatened Elgan. He threatened you. He made this very personal, and then called me out to end it. How else would you have expected me to respond?”

“Like we said,” Celeste retorted, “call the Vanguard and let them handle it. Dealing with Guardians is their job, after all.”

“Yes, but then that brings other people into it. Weren't you just criticizing me for that?” I replied. “Besides, doing that just puts another Guardian in harms way. What happens in that Guardian gets hurt? Dies? Then that's on my head.”

“No, it's on Jaeger's for doing it. I'd rather have you guilty than dead, dad,” there was a hint of held back emotion in the words.

“I have no intention of dying today or any other day soon,” I said gently. “I'm not just going to charge in head first, eyes closed.”

“And what were you going to do if we hadn't come along?”

“That is an excellent question,” I replied, intentionally not answering it. “But you did come, and I have an idea. Let me bring everyone in and I'll tell you what I have in mind. Elgan, open the channel to everyone else.”

The Ghost chirped an acknowledgment, and the faces of Zillah, Scott-20, and Eli-3 joined Celeste on the screen.

Zillah opened, “Please tell me that you've come to your senses and decided to turn around?”

“Or perhaps decided to bring the Vanguard in on this?” Scott offered.

“Anything you want to add?” I addressed Eli.

“Not my place,” he replied with a shrug. “Though, I would recommend listening to your team. They don't want to lose you. It's hard to lose a member of your squad.”

“I'm well aware of that,” I stated, “I've lost plenty.”

“Then why put them through that?” he questioned.

“I don't plan to.”

“Plan?” Zillah asked with a scoff. “I wasn't sure you knew the meaning of that word.”

“Funny,” I stated dryly. “As a matter of fact, I have a plan. It is a great plan. Beautiful in its simplicity, really.”

“Simple? Sounds like a Titan plan, alright,” she said. I ignored that one.

“First things first. You want to call the Vanguard? Fine. I can even call them myself and tell them where we're going. We're still going there, and will have the situation in hand before they arrive. Second, if things go right, I'm the only one Jaeger sees. You hang back unless things go sideways. Now, here's what I had in mind...”

…

After wrapping up my conversation with them, I made a few contingency plans of my own with Elgan. Once I was satisfied we had most outcomes covered, I fired off a message to Commander Zavala outlining the situation then sat back to spend the rest of the trip in silence. That didn't last long, as I had a call come in from Zillah. Not feeling like being mocked anymore right now, I hesitated to answer it.

Eventually I answered, “Yes?”

Silence. 

“Hello? Zillah?”

“I'm here,” she said finally, then went silent again.

“Did you need something?” I asked after several seconds had gone by.

“I...” she began, then trailed off. “No. I don't need anything.”

“Okay...”

She sighed and when she spoke again her tone had changed. “I spoke with Lady Efrideet back at Felwinter's. Before I flew out to Mercury.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. She seems very different from what I would have imagined. I suppose it stands to reason that being gone as long as she has can change a person.”

“I suppose it does,” I replied non-noncommittally.

“She seems at ease in a way I don't feel from many Guardians and spoke of peace. Yet here we are, set to wage war with another Guardian. It's bad enough having to fight against the forces of the Darkness. What becomes of everything we've fought for if we turn on each other?”

“I wish I had a good answer for you.”

“Me too,” she whispered with a sad tone in her voice.

We sat in silence for a bit, the line still open. When she spoke next, her tone had changed again and the conversation was going in a different direction.

“Why Venus?” she asked.

“I've been trying to figure that one out myself,” I admitted. “Our other run-ins have been on Earth, Luna, and the Reef. I would think he would choose one of those locations.”

“What were the coordinates?” she asked. I told her. “That sounds familiar. Wait, that's where we went before, you, Scott, Celeste, and I. It's between the Vex Spire and the Ishtar facility.”

“How would he even know about that?” I wondered. “We were the first Guardians to ever map that point.”

“He did say he had been following you,” she mused. “Maybe it started all the way back then?”

“I suppose we'll find out soon enough,” I said. “We're here.”

The ships dropped from NLS speeds and the cloudy form of Venus filled the screen. We entered into low orbit and transmatted down to the surface. I dropped in first, placing myself in the area designated by Jaeger. The others were to come in somewhere far enough out to be off radar and not easily visible, but able to see me. I kept a comms channel open to them so that they could hear what was going on. 

I recognized the area almost immediately. It was nearer to the Vex Spire than it was to the Ishtar buildings, but far enough away that we were in no danger of them detecting us. Unless they'd changed their patrol patterns after our encounter, that is. They had managed to track us all the way to those buildings, after all. No sign of them right now, so that was at least a positive. I picked a spot out in the open and planted my feet, arms crossed over my chest, and waited. He didn't keep me waiting long.

I heard a noise to my left and turned my head. On top of a rock there was a faint shimmer of a Bladedancer's invisibility dropping, and then he was there. Or what was left of him, at any rate. Small black shapes dusted his armor where I had shot him to move him away from the SIVA node. His left arm was gone, replaced with SIVA tendrils that were wrapped and coiled together in a parody of the missing limb. A section of his torso below that was missing as well. Black armor reminiscent of what we had seen on the Devil splicers covered the entirety of his right leg.

“Glad you could make it,” he began in a calm, conversational tone. “Of course, I knew you would, but I could not quite silence that doubting little voice in the back of my head. It was sure your friends would talk you out of it.”

“Hearing voices? Might want to get that checked out.”

“Heh,” he chuckled softly then gave his head a little shake like he was trying to dislodge something. “You don't know the half of it, Titan.”

“Well, you claimed to know we were going to keep running into each other. Voices or no voices, looks like you were right again.”

“So it would seem,” he replied, then hopped down from his rock. His right leg didn't quite seem to move correctly when he took a step. “Unfortunately, ~consume, enhance, replicate~ this will be our last meeting.”

“At last we agree on something,” I said slowly, keeping a close eye on him. What was that interjection? 

“I cannot tell you how many times I have witnessed this moment,” he continued, ignoring me. “The Device showed it to me. Each time, the outcome varied in big and small ways. However, this time... this time it ends how I want it to. ~consume, enhance, replicate~ This time, you die.”

“Why, exactly?” I asked. “That's the thing that hasn't made any sense. It can't be just because I got the better salvage on the moon. Why is it you think we are destined to fight each other?”

“I wondered that myself,” he confessed. “When the Device first showed me engaged in conflict with another Guardian, I was as confused as you have been. It's why I went back in time and time again, trying to find the answer and it always eluded me. Then SIVA came along, and it all became clear.”

“SIVA?”

“Yes, SIVA. The fight wasn't my real destiny, SIVA was. The rest of it fell into place after I followed you here and you uncovered something.”

“The Ishtar facility?”

“No,” he stated. “The Vex. You see, the Fallen are fools and took the wrong creation of Clovis Bray. What they accidentally unleashed, what became known as 'Transmission,' those nanites were intended for organics. Those nanites were meant to enhance physical and mental capabilities. Had they taken them, learned to control them, they would have had much better results. Instead, their focus on machine gods lead them to take SIVA and try to shape it to their will.

“SIVA was not meant for organics. SIVA in about construction, ~consume, enhance, replicate~ about building the perfect world. The Fallen almost had it right by using it to upgrade their Shanks and Servitors, though. It can work with flesh, but it was meant for machines. Like me. I gave myself over to it willingly, rather than trying to bend it into something that it was never meant to be. And now it wants the Vex. The Vex have mastered time. If it can consume them, it can replicate everywhere. Every when. SIVA can spread across every place, every time, every universe. It can con... ~consume, enhance, replicate~ everything that has ever been, ever will be, and ever could be. And I will make sure it does.”

“Not if I stop you,” I stated.

“You can't stop what has already happened,” he replied.

“What do you mean?”

“I knew the Vex would never let me get close, but I remembered an old military strategy from Earth history,” he said. “When trying to take a walled city, some armies would use catapults to fling dead bodies over the wall, spread disease ~consume, enhance, replicate~ to the defenders. I suppose you remember all the cocooned Fallen on the ceiling of the cave?”

I nodded with a growing sense of dread. He made a whistling noise and traced an arc through the air with his hand.

“That group of Vex was nice enough to confine themselves in a hole in the ground too. I bet it makes a nice bowl to contain the meal. Even if I hadn't already done it, I really don't know how you would stop me anyway. You weren't fast enough to stop me before ~consume, enhance, replicate~ SIVA. What makes you think you could stop me now?”

“Because this time I didn't come alone,” I stated and raised my hand.

Jaeger whipped his head to look past me. Suddenly, a hole opened up in the middle of his forehead. I did not need to look to know that a larger one had opened in the back. He stood stock still for a moment, then dropped to his knees and canted over sideways, lying still. 

“Good girl,” I told Celeste. I drew my shotgun, waiting for his Ghost to emerge. “I'll finish up here. You all need to go. You heard what he said, that he already unleashed SIVA on the Vex. Stop it, no matter what. I'll catch up in a minute.”

No Ghost appeared. Instead, red tendrils of SIVA burst forth from both wounds, writhing. The violence of their exit tore off the remains of his helmet, revealing his face which had gone dark. The tendrils reached for each other and connected, merging and forming a black shell that encompassed most of his head.

I should have known that would be too easy. So much for the simple plan.

“But what about...”

I cut her off. “Do it.”

“Yes, sir,” she grumbled reluctantly.

Jaeger's eyes and mouth flickered back to life, glowing an angry red with a faint haze of SIVA mites clouding his optics and dripping down his chin. 

“Remember, SIVA is vulnerable to Solar energy and fire. The Iron Lords' battle ax used flame and the stuff we came across actively moved away from fire. Eli, if you get the chance, light them up.”

“With pleasure,” the Sunbreaker replied.

The Hunter was climbing unsteadily to his feet now, glaring at me.

“Now go! Update the Vanguard on the way. Tell them the situation here is now critical and that whatever they have coming needs to come much, much faster,” I instructed.

“That. HURT!” Jaeger snarled. “I was just going to kill you. I was even going to do it quickly. SIVA could have ~consume, enhance, replicate~ had the rest of them. But now? Now you die slowly, and then I gut the pretty little Hunter and the Warlocks.”

Jaeger whipped out his hand-cannon and let loose a volley of shots that I blocked with a hastily erected Ward of Dawn.

“Also,” I continued talking to my team with my eyes firmly on the Hunter, watching his every move, “the Vex won't like you showing up on their doorsteps. Even if they are fighting off the SIVA, they'll probably turn their attention to you. Be careful.”

“You too,” Celeste replied.

I heard the sounds of sparrow engines and saw Celeste, Scott, and Eli-3 rocket off in the direction of the Vex Spire. I tried to spot the fourth until I heard a pair of feet land lightly on the ground behind me and felt someone step into my Ward. Zillah.

“You were all supposed to go to the Spire,” I hissed. “What are you doing?”

“Someone has to make sure you don't die,” she replied in a whisper. “And the Hunter respects you too much to disobey.”

“One, stopping the SIVA from infecting the Vex is more important than me. Two, are you saying you don't respect me?”

“Maybe to the first,” she replied, “no comment on the second.”

“She wants to die with you,” Jaeger sneered. “How touching.”

She stepped out from the protection of the Void shell and fired at Jaeger with her scout rifle. His left arm whipped up with blinding speed, a black shield suddenly forming out of the SIVA. I heard a ricochet as a round glanced off of it, leaving a small mark. He lowered the shield and glowered at her then thrust his arm forward. It extended out rapidly, striking like a snake. Zillah barely managed to dodge back into the Ward and it shot past, lodging into the ground behind where she had been. That was a new trick. He pulled back, and it retracted.

My Ward reached the end of its cycle and flickered into nothingness. The Hunter moved instantly, lashing out with his shield arm again. Zillah and I dove in opposite direction. I heard Jaeger's hand-cannon bark again, but nothing came my way. He must have targeted her. I rolled and came up firing, aiming at his extended arm.

The buckshot struck his arm and he roared in pain. He twisted, swinging his arm like a whip, the shield slamming into me and throwing me backward. I hit the ground and tumbled a few times. As quickly as I could, I got to my feet again, rushing in toward him. Jaeger had turned his attention fully to Zillah, so I used that to my advantage. Gathering a fistful of Void energy, I punched him as hard as I could in the back, giving a satisfying clang of metal on metal.

With a blow like that, I would usually see the target begin to disappear at the Void Light disintegrated the recipient. A fist-sized hole appeared and began to spread, but SIVA tendrils raced to fill in the space as soon as it appeared. Eventually, the SIVA won, closing the hole and covering it with a sheet of black armor.

Jaeger tried to bring his weapon around to take a shot at me, but I caught his arm. I struck his elbow as hard as I could, armor and strength breaking the joint. His optics narrowed as a cry of pain escaped him. A black spike erupted out of the damaged arm, turning it into a large sword. I ducked out of the way of it and he took advantage of me being off balance to whirl around and hit me with his shield arm again, driving me into the ground.

He pinned me to the ground with the shield and raised the other arm, preparing to skewer me. Shots rang out and he staggered, releasing his hold on me. I rolled away and scrambled back up to my feet. That apparently gave Zillah the opening she needed, because there was suddenly a large explosion of Void energy as a Nova Bomb detonated.

When the smoke cleared, we saw Jaeger laying sprawled out on the ground. Several pieces of black armor had broken free and lay scattered about. It was apparent now that his right leg had seemed odd because most of it was missing and had been replaced by the armor. As I watched, tendrils started emerging, knotting together to build him a new leg like it had his arm. He rose to his feet, more black armor forming to cover places where he'd been wounded. The ruin of his lower right arm dropped away with the spike growing larger and more blade-like.

“You have got to be kidding me,” I muttered in disbelief, wondering what it was going to take to keep him down. I hoped the others were having more luck with the Fallen.

“You have any bright ideas?” Zillah asked, panting with exertion.

“I have one,” I huffed, but didn't have a chance to say more.

What was left of Jaeger charged forward with a wordless yell. He leaped and swung his shield arm at me, following through with the blade. I managed to avoid both, and he struck the ground. In a blink he was bringing both back up, swiping upward in pursuit. I avoided the shield and deflected the blade, but he kicked out, catching me in the gut and knocking me backward.

Zillah opened fire again with her scout rifle and he snapped his gaze toward her. Lightning fast, he leaped toward her, swinging both arms. The blade caught the end of her robes, slicing off a portion of fabric. She stumbled a little, and he struck her with the shield, sending her to the ground.

“Elgan,” I spoke privately to my Ghost. “Plan nine. Get her out of here, take her to the others.”

“Plan nine is terrible,” he replied.

“I know, but it's the only thing I can think of that might work.”

“She's going to hate you for it,” he told me.

“I know.”

Elgan went silent then, and I knew he was putting everything into motion. Zillah was still dodging Jaeger as best she could, buying herself a little space with a blast from her palm. The Energy Drain served to buy her some time and help keep her moving. I dragged myself back to my feet.

“Hey!” I shouted. Quieter, “Do it, Elgan.”

Jaeger-10 turned to me and let out another inhuman noise. He thrust his left arm forward, launching the shield out at me again, glancing off my shoulder. The Hunter followed up by charging at me, blade arm held high.

I looked past him to see Elgan materialize behind Zillah. She whirled around in surprise, then vanished as Elgan's transmat removed both of them from the area. I breathed a sigh of relief, then stepped into Jaeger's charge, putting my shoulder into his gut. The move didn't have the same impact as a Striker, obviously, but it caught him off guard and knocked him off balance. While in close, I placed a magnetic grenade against his chest, then shoved him away from me.

The grenade exploded, tearing a hole in his chest. Like everything else we had thrown at him this fight, SIVA reacted to seal the wound, adding even more black plating to his body. He was now so armored and bulky that he looked more like a Titan in damaged armor than a Hunter. His red optics glared at me in hatred.

All I had to do was keep him preoccupied for another few moments. I noticed my shotgun laying on the ground a few feet away. I sprinted toward it, dropping to my knees and sliding to scoop it up. I raised it and fired, and Jaeger raised his shield arm to block it. I pulled the trigger again, and it clicked uselessly. No time to add more shells, either.

It was almost time. I knew I could not active a Ward, it would cover to much ground, there would be too much of a chance of it protecting him too. I took a deep breath and readied myself for what I knew was coming, and suddenly an image flashed through my mind.

A sword made of Void energy stabbing through my chest. The person holding that sword covered in a suit of armor made from the Void. Personal protection, rather than a bubble. Tapping into the Light, I focused as hard as I could, concentrating on shaping the Void. Jaeger looked like he was preparing to charge again. I needed him to be still for a moment.

“What are you prepared to do?” I shouted the question at him.

He drew upright and looked at me, head ticked over to one side.

“~consume, enhance, replicate~ W...whaaaaaaaat?” he asked, struggling to form the word now that SIVA had taken over so much of his body. I wondered how much of Jaeger was actually left at this point.

“What are you prepared to do?” I asked again. So close.

“P... pre...parrrrrred to kill. You.”

“Me too,” I replied. “But more importantly, I'm prepared to win.”

A loud screaming sound suddenly became noticeable. Jaeger glanced around, trying to locate the source. I focused all my attention on grasping the Void and bending it to my will. Jaeger's head tilted upward, and he finally saw it.

The Invictus, rocketing down toward us.

He looked from the ship to me and reared back with his shield arm, preparing to send it flying at me. Suddenly, I felt the Void bend. Now!

There was a flash of purple Void Light followed by the sound of an explosion, and then everything went black.

…

Light. Air. Ears ringing. Pain. Smoke.

Want to sleep.

Fire everywhere. More pain. Broken. Bleeding. Dying. Armor shattered. 

Something. Need to do something.

What?

Not alone. A body. Who?

Jaeger.

Movement. Something breaking free. Small.

Ghost. His Ghost. Kill it.

Push through pain. End it.

Ghost dripping red. Corrupted. Scanning the body. Shell opening.

Move! Can't move leg. Crawl. Stay awake.

Grab it. Smash it. 

It's dead.

Over.

Sleep. Sleep.

Let it go.

Darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As stated before, Eli-3 was a character on loan from fanfiction.net user Eli8300.
> 
> Another reference to the Maxims of Maximally Efficient Mercenaries from Schlock Mercenary in this chapter. http://ovalkwiki.com/The+Seventy+Maxims+of+Maximally+Effective+Mercenaries


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

 

Awareness returned sporadically from there. The voice of my Ghost and the feeling of being washed in Light. Being lifted from the ground. Voices discussing me. Discussing the Vex. A familiar face framed in a shock of red hair. Medical machines. Waking only to be stuck with a needle that put me back to sleep. Between those flashes of reality were scattered pieces of dreams. Or nightmares. Most of them involving fire and death.

When I finally regained full consciousness I was in a hospital room, a number of leads and wires stuck to my arms and head. A needle was in my left hand, connected to a bag of some kind of fluid. Probably a pain killer, if the fuzzy feeling in the back of my brain was anything to go by. A star-shaped object popped into view, the sections of its metallic shell shifting and clicking in a pattern I recognized as worry. Elgan.

“You're awake!” he exclaimed.

“Busy stating the obvious as usual,” I groaned.

“Hmph,” he gave a pretty good approximation of a snort. “For your information, you've made us think you were waking up only to go on napping several times now. I was just shocked it was the real thing this time.”

“If this attitude is what I'm waking up to, I think I'd prefer to go back to the nightmares,” I said, closing my eyes.

“Don't even think about it,” another voice chimed in. I opened my eyes and turned my head to the side to see Celeste sitting quite literally on the edge of her seat.

“Hiya, Kiddo,” I greeted her, trying my best to give a warm smile. It hurt.

She dropped the notepad and pencil that had been in her hand and popped out of her seat, dashing over to the bed and wrapping her arms around me. That hurt too. I winced and must have made a sound when I breathed because she suddenly straightened up with a worried look on her face.

“Sorry,” she offered sheepishly.

“Why does that hurt so much?” I asked somewhat rhetorically.

“Well, you did crash a ship on top of yourself,” Elgan muttered.

I rolled my eyes to look at him, “Yes, but you said I've been out for a while and we usually heal pretty quick. A fact which was pointed out to me by someone in this very room when I tried to leave her behind after she was injured recently. I've been killed and been back to action a few minutes later after a revive with less lingering pain.”

“I took too long getting back to you,” Elgan explained, a note of shame entering his voice. “You had me get myself and Zillah clear of the blast, but I couldn't get back to you until you were nearly gone. Your Light was so faded that it was all I could do to bring you back from the brink, and something was interfering...”

“Don't blame yourself for that. It was my call,” I consoled the Ghost, trying to sit up and finding it surprisingly difficult to make such a common move.

“It was all I could do to keep you alive,” the Ghost continued. “However, not all your injuries could be healed.”

That was when I realized why it was so difficult to shift in the bed. Something was wrong with my leg. I had a flash of memory then, a hazy notion of trying to get up to finish the job on Venus and not being able to because my leg didn't work. I glanced from Elgan to Celeste and saw a look on her face I'd never seen there before. Pity. I pushed myself up to a sitting position and looked toward the foot of the bed. My left leg ended in a spinmetal cap just above where my knee should have been.

I fell back against the bed and closed my eyes, rubbing my hands over my face.. For the briefest of moments, I entertained the notion that this was just another dream, that I would really wake up and things would be normal. I knew that to be a lie, though. A wave of despair tried to wash over me, but I pushed it away. Self pity would accomplish nothing. Push through it, move forward, and deal with this as best I could. And maybe indulge in a little self pity when no one else was around. 

My movement had apparently triggered something with the monitors. The door opened and someone stepped into the room. I opened my eyes, but didn't sit up to see who it was.

“We're fine,” I heard Celeste say, then felt her place a hand on my arm. I reached over, placing my hand on top of hers.

“Just checking,” I heard a voice respond, then a nurse entered my field of view. She was apparently satisfied with whatever the monitors told her, because she left the room almost as quickly as she entered.

“Tell me what happened,” I stated, opening my eyes and locking them on Elgan.

“When I found you, you were laying half-way on top of... what was left of Jaeger. There were pieces of his Ghost scattered around as well as clutched in your hand. You were bleeding out from multiple injuries, but your leg was by far the worst. It was completely shredded, almost unrecognizable. I did what I could, but the medical staff said they had to take it to save your life.”

“Thank you for keeping me alive. I'm sure you did the best you could,” I offered. “You always do.”

“They are currently fabricating a prosthetic for you,” Elgan added. “It should be ready very soon.”

I nodded, then turned my attention to Celeste. “What happened with the Vex?”

“Well, first we had to get past a Cyclops. There weren't any mobile units outside the crater, but that is because they were all busy repelling the invasion inside. By the time we got there, the SIVA was already doing its best to infect the Vex. Their response was swift and violent. Each time a unit would get infected, dozens would turn on it and destroy it before it could do anything. Clouds of the nanites were drifting around, attacking Goblins, Hobgoblins, Harpies, you name it.

“We started firing at compromised Vex, but we'll just say the Mind didn't appreciate the assist and leave it at that. To be honest, I almost think we made it worse at first, as the Vex firing at us couldn't work to stop the SIVA and it actually started to gain a foothold. Vex Goblins leaking red SIVA mites were trying to get into the spire, teleporting around and charging into the ranks of their former compatriots.

“Eli-3 summoned his hammers after a bit and really started lighting them up, which turned the tide back in our favor. Scott-20 and I kept the uninfected Vex off his back as best we could, letting him keep his focus where it needed to be. As many as we took out, though, more were transmatting in all the time. Some of them seemed to have modified weaponry capable of attacking the SIVA directly. Finally, the back-up the Vanguard sent got in close enough to reach out to us.

“A Sunbreaker and a Sunsinger trasmatted down to help us fight while the rest stayed in orbit. Even though the Vex seemed to be containing the infection they didn't want to risk leaving any SIVA behind, so they were thought it best to bomb the place. 'Nuke it from orbit; only way to be sure,' one of them said. Needless to say, we got out of there as quickly as we could. 

“About the same time, Zillah suddenly popped in with Elgan in tow. Seeing your Ghost without you terrified me by the way, thanks for that. We gave her a rundown of the situation, finished the fight, and were transmatted out of there. Elgan fought us though. The little guy was afraid they were going to leave you. I managed to convince him that getting himself blown up wouldn't help you in any way. We got one of the pilots to move to where you were and dropped back down to get you. Elgan told you the rest,” she finished.

I let it all sink in for a bit before asking, “Everyone made it out okay?”

“Yes,” Celeste answered. “Scott is back at his study and asked that we keep him informed every step along the way. Eli left but said he would try to check in. I'm not sure where Zillah is. She disappeared after we made it back.”

“You haven't heard from her?”

“Nope,” she shook her head. “We got back to the Tower and haven't seen her since. I figured you would wonder, so I've checked on her ship. She hasn't left.”

“Have you been in here the whole time?”

“Yeah,” she replied. “I couldn't leave you.”

“You should go,” I told her. “Get some rest.”

“I've been resting here,” she shrugged.

“Okay,” I conceded, glancing over at the drawing pad that she had dropped on the floor. “I see you were keeping occupied. What were you drawing?”

Her face reddened. “I don't want to say.”

“Well now I insist,” I replied with a smile that was only slightly less painful than the previous one.

Her face grew redder, which I honestly hadn't thought possible. There was a guilty look in her eyes I hadn't seen there in years. She stepped over and stooped down to scoop the pad up off the floor. Her eyes flicked from it to me a few times. She looked away from me and turned the paper so that I could see the picture.

It was a very impressive drawing of her punching me in the face.

“I... well... that certainly is something,” I managed.

“I didn't think you would wake up,” she mumbled.

“Clearly.”

“I was mad at you for nearly getting yourself killed,” she continued, “and was thinking about what I would do if you ever tried something like that again. I started it before I knew how bad things were and continued because, well, you know how I feel about not finishing what I start. Don't be mad.”

“I'm not mad,” I told her. “It's very well done. I'm not a fan of the subject matter, but the quality is nice.”

“Thanks,” she replied with a slight smile.

“Next time, though, could you at least leave out the tears?” I suggested.

“Nope,” Celeste retorted, “that's what brings the whole piece together.”

I chuckled, which hurt a bit, and shook my head. Even with the confirmation that she thought of me as her dad, still so little respect from the Hunter. It was somewhat comforting at the moment, seeing that not everything had changed. I'd feel so much worse if the pity I saw in her eyes earlier changed the way she acted around me.

The nurse from earlier stepped in and cleared her throat, “Excuse me, but the patient has another visitor.”

“That's fine. Send them in,” I said, thinking it might be Scott. Or perhaps Zillah. I didn't expect to see Lakshmi-2, Tower representative for the Future War Cult.

Elgan's shell twirled in agitation and I could sense Celeste bristling at the sight of her. The Exo stepped into the room, her optics sweeping over us and taking everything in. She closed the door behind her and stepped further into the room.

“Guardians,” she opened with a nod before turning her attention solely to Celeste. “Leave us.”

“Excuse me?” the Hunter questioned, tensing up even more. I reached over and put a hand on her arm.

“It's okay, Kiddo,” I whispered. “There's nothing to worry about here. Go on out and update everybody. Let them know I'm fine.”

She looked at me uncertainly, and I nodded. Glancing between me and Lakshmi, she seemed to be considering her options.

“Fine,” she hissed finally, stalking out of the room.

“Thank you for your cooperation,” Lakshmi stated. “Much of what I would say I care only to discuss with you personally.”

“I know how much the War Cult loves its secrets.”

“Yes,” she acknowledged, “we do like to keep our mysteries close. That is partly what brings me here today. First, I want you to understand that Jaeger-10 was not acting under the orders of the Future War Cult beyond your initial encounter with him. Firing at you like he did was outside the parameters of his assignment as well. After the Vanguard filed a complaint in response to his actions on Luna, he was ordered to maintain his distance from you.”

“You might want to work on your control then,” I commented. She ignored it.

“Regardless,” she pressed on, “we were not responsible for his actions toward you or his involvement with SIVA.”

“I believe you,” I told her. “I can't imagine the War Cult wanting to jeopardize their standing by pitting Guardian against Guardian. As for SIVA, I could see any of the factions trying to get their hands on it for their own gain, but attempting to infect the Vex with it is a singular type of madness.”

She nodded. “That madness brings me to my second point. It is clear that Jaeger had become deranged. Confused. I would not adhere to closely to much of what he said to you.”

“Such as talk of seeing the future and a device that showed it to him?” I suggested. “I've heard the rumors, of course, I'm not new here. Rumors that the War Cult has a machine able to see different time-lines, that all of the 'inner circle' is tested in it to seek out a way to save the Last City. Seems an interesting bit of confirmation.”

“I neither confirm nor deny anything,” the Exo said, shifting her stance slightly. “Any mentions of such a notion might lead others to draw the conclusion that you had been infected by a similar madness. I would advise against it. However, if there was such a Device, based on his statements, Jaeger would have been immersed in it beyond what would be allowed. Any operators of such a hypothetical device would be dealt with swiftly to prevent such a recurrence.”

“I see.”

“Do we have an understanding?” she asked pointedly.

“Yes,” I nodded. “Provided you can keep a better leash on your charges in the future.”

It was her turn to nod. Without another word, Lakshmi turned and left the room. Celeste darted through the door before it closed, looking after the Exo.

“What was that all about?” she asked.

“Nothing to worry about,” I said with a wave. It was clear she didn't like the answer, but seemed to accept it for now.

“I sent a quick message to Eli and then reached out to Scott,” she told me, “I let him know you were awake. He was glad to hear it and said he looks forward to seeing you up and about. He also said something about you having some time now to look over that book you borrowed. What book?”

“Something about improvised weaponry he loaned me while I was on house arrest. Hadn't had a chance to look over it yet with Iron Banner and then Jaeger. What about Zillah?”

“What about her?” she asked, annoyed.

“I'll assume that means that you still haven't heard from her.”

Celeste shook her head. The Warlock's absence bothered me. It actually surprised me how much. Over the last few weeks, I had become used to her presence, even fond of having her around. It had even felt like we'd forged a solid connection, which I never would have expected that first trip to Venus. Celeste must have noticed something in my face and recognized this.

“I could try reaching out to her again,” she offered reluctantly. 

“That's okay,” I said. “I appreciate the offer, but you don't have to do that.”

There had been a thawing there as well, their interactions had not been quite as antagonistic as they were early on, but I knew Zillah was still far from Celeste's favorite person. Now that I was awake, I could try reaching out. That or just go look for her once I was up and about again.

I changed the subject, “Are you going to head out and get back into the Iron Banner?”

“Seriously? While you're here dealing with this?” she gestured vaguely around the room.

“No need to miss out on my account. I'll be up and out of here as soon as they let me. Besides, I hear they are giving out new weapons and armor, replicas of what many of the Iron Lords used in the early days. I can't go earn any of it myself, I need someone to snag some of it for me.” That drew a chuckle from her. 

“You and your obsession with the Iron Lords,” she shook her head in amusement.

“What can I say,” I gave a half smile and shrugged my shoulders, “I know what I like. Chroma, fur, Iron Lord imagery, and I hear this stuff incorporates two of the three. Gotta have it.”

“Fine,” she sighed theatrically, “since you insist I'll go have fun and jet around the solar system. After they release you.”

“Fair enough.”

“For now,” she said, flopping back into her seat, “I think I'll finish my picture. Needs a few more tears.”

I just shook my head as he picked up her pencil and got back to drawing. I tried to avoid looking at my leg too much, instead choosing to focus on something else. Someone else. 

Elgan had warned me that she would hate me for sending her away. I had known that she wouldn't respond well to it, but had hoped she would see the necessity of it and understand why. It seems that she had not. Or, at the very least, refused to admit it. Glancing at Celeste, I remembered her reaction to my leaving her behind when we went back to the Plaguelands. She had felt disrespected, like I didn't trust her abilities as a Guardian. Was Zillah feeling something similar now, belittled because I took the choice away from her? All I wanted was to keep everyone around me safe. Maybe that wasn't my responsibility.

Time passed and there was a knock at the door. A group of medical personnel came in, two of them escorting a cart that carried my mechanical leg. It looked like it belonged to an Exo, meaning it should fit inside my armor with little to no modifications. That was reassuring. They explained to me how it would interface with the spinmetal contraption they had attached to what was left of my leg and respond to mental stimulus just like my natural leg. A lot of it went over my head and I really hoped Elgan was recording it all.

They kept the leads attached to me to monitor function once the leg was attached and had me try to stand. I was pretty unsteady on my feet, but everything measured and tested out okay. They gave me a cane to use until I was more certain on the leg, which brought a giggling fit from Celeste.

“Now you really do look like an old man,” she laughed. My glare did not deter her even a bit.

The leg an apparent success and everything else looking good, they released me. Since I was still in some pain, they gave me a prescription and sent me on my way. They also let me know that the Vanguard had requested my presence once I was released. Celeste had brought me some off-duty clothing, which I appreciated. I didn't want to stumble around in a full suit of armor just yet. I got dressed and then hobbled my way to the Hall of Guardians, ignoring stares from Guardians and civilians alike.

Only Commander Zavala was on duty today. The Titan Vanguard stood with his back to the doorway, staring out the window overlooking the mountains behind the Tower. I limped my way to him, standing to the side and just behind, waiting for him to acknowledge my presence.

“It is good to see you up and about, Guardian,” the Awoken Titan spoke, turning his head. “From what I understand, it was a close call.”

“So I hear,” I replied. “And thank you.”

“There will be no inquiry into your actions toward Jaeger this time,” Zavala got down to business. “It is clear that the Hunter had become an enemy combatant and stopping his actions was a necessity. Your quick response probably saved lives, either from his direct actions or through his attempts to spread SIVA. That being said, there will still be restrictions places on you for the time being.”

“What?” Unbelievable.

“Not because of what you did, Guardian, but because of the aftermath. Specifically, the loss of your leg. Until you have adjusted to the replacement, you are placed on restricted duty. You may move about freely, participate in Crucible matches if you feel up to it, and can report for sentry duty along the Wall. You are not to participate in Patrols, Strikes, or other Vanguard operations until deemed fit to return to the field.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but stopped. I knew Zavala. When his voice carried the tone it did now, there was little hope of changing his mind.

“Yes, sir,” I stated, barely keeping the annoyance from my voice. Or maybe I didn't, because he turned to face me fully at that point.

“Claney, you have served the people of the Last City well. It is because of Guardians like you that this dream is still alive. Keeping yourself that way is an important part of doing that. This is not a punishment that is being handed down. Rest. Heal. Then return and face the Darkness as you always have when you are capable.”

I nodded and he dismissed me. I hobbled back to my room and tried to sit. The prosthetic leg balked a bit at the action, not wanting to bend enough, though it was fully capable of doing so. I fell onto the seat and disconnected the leg, grabbing the ankle and pulling it out of the pants leg. Once it was free, I hurled it across the room in annoyance. It struck the far wall and put a hole in it where it hit. The now empty pant leg only increased my anger. Eventually the irritation faded and I regretted throwing the Darkness-cursed thing because retrieving it was going to be a pain.

I considered asking Elgan to try reaching out to Zillah, but stopped myself. Maybe I should give that some time. Let both of us get our heads in better places, then go from there. To distract myself, turned on the viewscreen, finding an Iron Banner match to watch. I eventually fell asleep there, watching Guardians chasing glory and honor in the name of the Lords of Iron.

...

When I woke up, Celeste was sitting next to me holding my replacement leg.

“Here,” she stated, offering it to me. “Looks like you dropped this. Forcefully. Across the room.”

“Thank you,” I replied, taking it from her.

“I made a small improvement while you were sleeping,” she told me, point to the side.

I turned it over to look and saw that she had painted my emblem on the outside face of it. I traced my finger over the familiar cream-colored wolf face framed in blue. It was a great representation.

“Nice work, Kiddo,” I admired.

“Thanks. Make sure Elgan scans it so that next time you get yourself vaporized, it comes back looking the same.”

“Funny,” I deadpanned. “Speaking of getting yourself vaporized, I thought I told you to go enjoy yourself and participate in the Iron Banner.”

“I just wanted to check on you again before I left,” she said. “You sure you're going to be alright, Old Man?”

“I appreciate the concern, but I'm fine. Promise.”

“I hate it when you lie to me, you know,” she told me, gently elbowing me in the ribs.

“”I know,” I smiled, “doesn't mean I won't do it from time to time, though. Now, get out of here. I'm not good enough with this thing to work it back up the pant leg and put it back on while I'm wearing them.”

“Oh, I so did not need that mental image,” she shuddered, hopping off the couch and bolting for the door. “I think I may scarred for life now.”

I watched her go, then turned my attention back to the Iron Banner matches. Much to my surprise, I caught a brief glimpse of a familiar Warlock participating. She was battling it out on at Black Shield on Mars. I quickly put myself back together, grabbed my cane, and got ready to leave. I had somewhere I needed to be. I hobbled over to my closet and pulled out an old leather jacket with fur around the collar and headed out the door.

“Elgan, get the ship ready.”

“Where are we going?” he asked.

“Felwinter's Peak. Zillah will need to return there after she finishes up with that round of matches. I intend to be there when she does.”

He beeped in affirmation. By the time I got to the plaza, he had already gotten clearance and was bringing the ship to the drop off point. I smiled when I saw the form of the “Lost Days” floating into view. It had been a while since I'd seen the old thing. Good to know it could still fly.

I transmatted aboard and headed for Felwinter's Peak. It was a quick trip, but even so I found myself getting antsy. I forced myself to remain calm. Who knows how long I was going to have to wait once I got there, no need to start getting impatient already. 

Once at Felwinter's, I made my way across the bridge and over toward the new Iron Banner staging area. I could see Lady Efrideet speaking with the numerous Guardians who came and went as they picked up their bounties, rewards, or just spoke with the legendary Iron Lord. I found a place to wait under an old dome, far enough not to bring a lot of attention to myself but close enough to keep an eye on the area, and waited.

She must have been toward the end of that set of matches when I spotted her, because I did not have to wait very long for Zillah to appear. She strode through the other Guardians going about their business and made her way to Efrideet. I watched as the two women spoke. Zillah actually smiled, looking surprisingly comfortable around the old Hunter. Efrideet reached out and patted the Warlock's arm before she turned and walked away. I rose and stepped into the light, and Zillah caught sight of me.

“Claney?”

She took two slow steps toward me then stopped, keeping her distance. I leaned heavily on the cane, uncertain of what to say.

“I saw you on the viewer,” I broke the awkward silence. “How did your matches go?”

“Split,” she replied. “Won two, lost two. Not bad for a randomly assembled team versus groups that were mostly comprised of fireteams.”

I nodded and we fell back into silence.

“I'm glad you're up and about,” she offered.

“Thanks. You're the second person to use that phrase today, after Commander Zavala.”

“Well, I will watch my phrasing in the future,” was her half-hearted retort, “I wouldn't want to be confused for a Titan now would I?”

“No, probably not. We do dumb stuff sometimes, like crash ships on top of our heads. Nice to see you getting over your distaste for Hunters, though,” I nodded toward Efrideet.

“Oh, that,” she said, turning away. “That's something I was going to tell you about eventually, but I wasn't sure how.”

“What do you mean?”

“I told you I talked to her before going to Mercury,” she began. “Then Venus happened. I was so angry with you for sending me away like you did.”

I opened my mouth to reply, but she cut me off.

“I know why you did it. There is a part of me that can even appreciate it. That part doesn't get to talk right now. You sent me away, and then you very nearly killed yourself. I know that you did what you felt you had to do, but I can't accept that right now.

“I opened up to you. I talked to you about the way I have felt adrift, disconnected, for a long time now. I thought, maybe, there was something here. Something I could rely on. A team. A home. Then you did that and were nearly gone forever. I was so angry that I couldn't look at you. I couldn't be there when you were taken in, couldn't sit there and wait to see if you survived your own foolishness. So I came here.

“Efrideet talked to me. Said she saw something in my struggle that mirrored her own. She invited me to go with her when she leaves after the Banner is done; invited me to come to the outer rim of the solar system and see the enclave they have built. She invited me to stay with them and find my purpose.

“And I accepted.”

Shock hit at that, and I stood there in stunned silence. Searching her face, I could see the suggestion of tears forming in her eyes. She turned away and wiped at them.

“What about the Tower?” I asked stupidly. “You just moved everything there.”

“I'm not leaving forever,” she replied. “Not yet. I'll keep my room and my things at the Tower for now. Maybe I'll come back soon. It's hard to say.”

I wanted to stay any number of things right then, but my throat refused to let any of them out. I could see her searching my face, waiting for some kind of response. Eventually she got tired of waiting and turned away.

“Don't go,” I finally managed to choke out a half whisper.

She stopped mid-stride and stood stock still.

“Please, don't go,” I managed again, stronger this time.

She looked at the ground and whispered, “I'm sorry.”

Feivel appeared next to her, then the two of them vanished from sight as she transmatted to her ship.


	22. Epilogue

Epilogue

 

So often the years seem go to by quickly, so much more-so lately than they did when I was younger. There was so much happening in the first half of this particular year that it passed in a blink, but then everything changed. I was changed. And everything slowed to a crawl. These last several months have been a grueling slog of rehabilitation and adaptation.

First, I lost my leg. I have mostly grown accustomed to the cybernetic prosthetic that was built for me, but I swear the thing is a fraction of a centimeter shorter than my original leg was. The doctors insist that it was built to specifications taken from scans Elgan had made of me, but I feel lopsided and it annoys me.

Second, Zillah left. I only met her during the craziness of earlier this year, but her absence now was noticeable. She had left with Lady Efrideet to somewhere on the outer reaches of the solar system. The Iron Banner had come and gone a couple times since then, but she had yet to return. She hasn't requested to have her possessions sent to her or have her room at the Tower reassigned, so I keep holding out hope. Another Iron Banner is scheduled to begin tomorrow. Something to look forward to, perhaps.

Third, there seems to be a reluctance to let me back out in the field. I was kept close while I adjusted to my new leg, but I have gotten to the point that I am confident enough in its function to get back to business. However, it seems that someone finds my presence around the Tower beneficial for new Guardians and I have fallen into a mentoring role with the freshly revived Titans. Honestly, I enjoy it, it's just another change to get used to. Also, whoever tried to stick me with the “Tower Dad” monicker needs to make themselves known so that they can get a swift and well-deserved punch in the face. Zavala is more fitting of the title anyway.

Regardless of how fast or slow they feel, the days tick by as they always have, bringing with them the usual customs and celebrations. This day, in particular, marks the beginning of the Festival of the Lost. The Festival is a City tradition that spread to the Tower, a time of remembering those that have passed on. It's a weird mix of somber and fun that always seems to somehow brighten spirits.

I rolled to the edge of the bed and reached down, picking up my leg and attaching it. I flexed it a couple times to get all the connections in place, then stood to my feet. After that, it was slipping on the undersuit and putting on my armor. Fitting for the day, Elgan has set out an old Pacorus armor set, armor that had been dedicated to lamenting the dead, bearing my customary green and gold paint job. It was outdated armor, wearing it now would mostly be ceremonial. Complimenting it was the Mark of the Lost. Dressed for the day, I picked up the wrapped item from my nightstand, tucked it in my belt, and scooped up a bag full of candy before stepping out into the hallway.

I might not have been in my usual gear, but the colors and wolf emblem emblazoned on the shoulder made me recognizable enough to other people that I received several warm greetings on my way topside. Once I reached the plaza, a scene of delightful chaos greeted me as Guardians and civilians alike dashed around the space wearing elaborate masks representing everything from a simple engram, to wild animals, to Oryx the Taken King himself. A Hunter dressed in a particularly ridiculous representation of everyone's favorite Cryptarch jumped from where he had been hiding.

“Feed me the blood of your enemies!” he roared. “A million deaths are not enough for Master Rahool! I demand a tribute of engrams!”

Before I could even being to attempt to respond, he sprinted away cackling and howling. This caught the attention of the real Rahool, who looked none too pleased at the impersonation. His clear annoyance made me grin inside my helmet.

I made it through the plaza without being the victim of any more pranks or scare tactics, though I was a witness to many masked characters jumping out at people passing by or Guardians in Traveler masks leaping off the Tower. Entering the hallway, I couldn't help but admire the decorations and lighting likely put up by Eva Levante. She usually considered herself to be a “master of ceremonies” for these types of events, encouraging participation and handing out gifts and treats. Sure enough, as I passed her work stations, I saw a sizable group gathered near her. I continued on, my destination just a bit further.

In the Tower there was a large, circular door. This door remained closed much of the year, but rolled opened for the Festival. Inside was the Memorial to the Lost, an intricately carved chunk of black stone where the names of lost Guardians were carved. The walls or the room also bore decoration, holding relics from, or carved images of, legendary figures in the history of the City and the Tower that stood over it. I stepped up to the memorial, finding all the familiar names.

Donvan, the leader of my first fireteam. Sarai and Sen, two other members of that old team. I searched for other Guardians I had served with as well, recalling faces and moments shared. Elgan appeared over my shoulder, quietly observing the ritual. Eventually, I reached for the object at my waist, the final thing I needed to do here today.

I carefully unwrapped the cloth from around the object, revealing a Hunter's knife. This particular knife had been held to my own throat at one point in the recent past. Elgan's shell clicked in a manner I recognized as confusion.

“Why do you have that?” he asked. “I assumed you had disposed of it.”

“No, I never had any intention of doing that. I had actually planned to return it to its owner blade first, but didn't have it when he made his unexpected return. I wasn't sure what to do with it after that, but then I knew there was only one choice”

I knelt down by the memorial then, spreading the cloth on the ground by the base. Holding the knife flat across my open palms, I set it down gently on the cloth.

“I don't understand,” the Ghost chimed in. “He tried to kill you. You did kill him. He was a danger to everyone around him. Why are you honoring him like this?”

“It's more in honor of who he was,” I replied. “When we figured out who had attacked me, I had you find all the information you could on him. There wasn't a lot, but it did give me some notion of who we were dealing with. I've been going over all of it again ever since that day on Venus, trying to understand, to make sense of what happened, and what I found was a very different Guardian than the one that tried to kill me.

“Something happened to him. I don't think it was being corrupted by the Darkness. Lakshmi hinted at something in the hospital room, about him being exposed to whatever that War Cult Device is too many times. I think whatever it was broke him mentally. He lost part of himself, and then exposing himself to SIVA the way he did pushed away anything that was left of Jaeger. In the end, he was a shattered shell of what he had been. He deserved better. We all do.”

I stared at the knife for several moments before rising back to my feet.

“Light go with you, Jaeger-10. Hopefully you've found a measure of peace.”

I turned then, leaving the dead behind. Having honored them, it was now time to celebrate the fact that I had yet to rejoin them. The City below beckoned, and I had a bag full of candy demanding to be distributed. Making my way to an express elevator, I rode down to ground level.

As expected, the Last City was alive with activity which would only increase as the day went on. Most decorations had already been been put up over the last few weeks, but there were still a few people hanging banners and lights or setting out candles. A group of children ran by in masks, laughing and attempting to scare the people they passed. It looked so much like the activity on the upper plaza that I wondered if it was just universal behavior or said something about the maturity of most Guardians.

I removed my helmet, tucking it under my arm and just watched the scene. Compared to the Golden Age, or whatever came before that, I'm sure this would be a sad display. Right now, in this place, this little bit of happiness and peace was enough. This right here is what Commander Zavala means when he talks about, “The Dream of the City.” It still wasn't the most comfortable setting for me, but maybe one day we would push back the forces of Darkness enough that the idea of living life this way wouldn't seem so foreign. For now, it was enough to be around it and maybe make their lives a little better.

Another group of children ran by me. This time, one of them stopped. A little girl with brown hair and eyes that matched. I recognized her instantly as the girl who had been in the pack of children following me and Scott-20 when we came looking for Zillah. I knelt and held out a hand. She smiled and darted over to me, slapping the extended hand as she had before. I took two pieces of candy out of the bag I was carrying and she eyed them greedily. I pretended to consider it for a moment, then closed my fingers around those two, placed the rest of the bag inside the old Pacorus helmet, and held it out to her.

“Take it,” I told her. “Share it with your friends. You'll need it to keep all the spooks away tonight. If the candy doesn't turn them away, just wear the helmet and that should do the trick.”

Her eyes grew wide and she grabbed the bag before offering a simple, “Thank you.”

She turned and fled after her friends, waving the bag over her head and shouting. Watching her go, I turned and headed in the opposite direction. With no real direction in mind, I wandered the streets a for a few minutes, taking in the sights. My stomach reminded me that I hadn't had anything to eat yet, so I stopped in a little diner for some eggs and bacon.

After eating, I spent a few more minutes in the City, then headed back topside with the two remaining candies in hand. The City might not be the life for me, but there was a small measure of “normal” that I could actually hold on to. I strode purposefully through the living quarters and found the door I was looking for. I knocked and Celeste answered. Behind her, I could see the smaller figure of Astrid, the mini-Titan that Cayde had suggested Celeste try to help mentor. I smiled and held up the two pieces of candy.

“Happy Festival of the Lost, you two.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At the time of its publication, this was (and still is as of now) the longest piece of fiction I had ever managed to write. I am mostly proud of the way that it turned out. I hope you enjoyed reading it. I will begin posting the sequel (which is currently being published over on fanfiction) soon.

**Author's Note:**

> This story has been previously published in full on fanfiction. The sequel to this story, "When the Sun Winds Down", is currently being published over there as well. I will publish the chapters of this in short order here, so that I can eventually catch up to what I am working on.  
> The story takes place shortly after the Taken King and runs through Rise of Iron.


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